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Swiss researchers have presented a feasibility study on a novel gripper for robots: It can detect fragile objects, but is also strong enough for heavy loads.
Researchers at the EPFL have developed a robot gripper, which is gentle enough to hold an egg or a single sheet of paper, but at the same time so strong that he can lift 80 times its own weight. it was realized by means of two rubber blades with embedded electrodes: When a voltage is applied, the wings bend inwards and hold it firmly between them lying object. The reported Technology Review online in "Strong gripper with sensitivity".
According to June Shintanke, lead author of a scientific paper about the project and a researcher at the ETH Lausanne, the gripper is the first to combine soft parts with Elektroadhäsion and sensors; he was thus able to control themselves. He would be a welcome alternative to the individually-made robot hands or complicated sensor arrays including software, which are yet required to accommodate objects with special or varying shapes.
His special skills could make the rubber gripper become a useful tool for warehouses or in production, possibly even for delivery drones because it means very little additional weight, but still allows the transport of relatively heavy objects. Sintake believes that he also has potential for the manipulation of objects in space as well as for sorting applications in the food industry.
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