Magic-ball Soft Gripper
The Origami Robot Gripper is a robotic arm featuring a 3D printed silicone grip that conto
MIT Csail
Specifications
| Grasping force | 120 | N at -60 kPa |
| Material | Silicone | |
| Manufacturing method | 3D printing (FDM ) |
Overview
The origami “magic-ball” is a well-established origami design. It is folded from a rectangular piece of paper pre-creased with a repeating waterbomb pattern that is offset by a half-unit on every new row. The waterbomb pattern features a square with folds along its diagonals and a vertical axis of radial symmetry. This “magic-ball” structure can be reversibly changed between a spherical shape and a cylindrical shape, therefore it has been utilized previously in the development of morphing robots
The gripper-to mount connector is surrounded with silicone skin. When the gripper closes in on an object, a vacuum collapses the silicone around it, effectively grasping the item without crushing it—and it’s capable of doing so for objects that are up to a hundred times its own weight.
The origami “magic-ball” can exhibit a significant radialcontraction with a volume reduction of more than 90% [30].Furthermore, if one end of the origami “magic-ball” is fixedand closed, then the other end can be opened to form ahollow hemispherical shape
Read the article about this project here.
References
Paper describes the design and fabrication process, and the characterization of the gripper.
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