Design and Development of Vacuum Actuated Soft Gripper for Pick and Place Different Irregular Shaped Objects

Abstract

This article presents the design, fabrication and testing of a novel vacuum based soft robotic gripper. This work included the fabrication of a cylindrical gripper via a 3D-printed mould, into which a combination of liquid silicone elastomer and curing agent was injected. The deformation behavior of the soft gripper was analyzed for different pressures using ANSYS software. The ANSYS results revealed that the pressure, material and size of the cavity inside the gripper are the important factor that affects the deformation of the soft gripper. Finally the grasping power and holding time of the fabricated gripper has been tested by grasping different objects including fruits, mobile phone, plastic bottles and stainless steel utensils. The validation findings demonstrate the gripping and holding capabilities of the proposed vacuum gripper, suggesting its suitability for various automation and industrial applications.