Flexible-Rigid Gripper for Soft, Shape-Adaptive Fruit Harvesting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fruit and vegetable harvesting methods, particularly for high-value crops like strawberries and tomatoes, suffer from low efficiency, high labor intensity, and high damage risk due to the inability of current grippers to stably and softly grasp fruits and vegetables with complex shapes.
Innovation Solution
A flexible-rigid integrated gripper with a base, driving member, and flexible harvesting mechanism, featuring a flexible body with a mounting space for a rigid member, where the flexible body's thickness decreases away from the base to form a flexible harvesting opening that enlarges or narrows based on gas pressure, allowing for full-envelope grasping and minimizing damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If clamping and grasping method is used, then harvesting efficiency is improved, but damage to fruits and vegetables increases due to small contact area and inability to grasp complex shapes stably and softly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible body made of elastomeric material that can deform and conform to the shape of fruits and vegetables. This flexible structure replaces rigid clamping mechanisms, allowing the gripper to adapt to complex shapes while distributing contact forces over larger areas, thereby reducing damage during harvesting operations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes pneumatic pressure control to dynamically adjust the flexibility and contact force of the gripper. By changing the air pressure parameter, the system can switch between different grasping states (relaxed, semi-flexible, fully flexible), enabling stable and soft grasping that adapts to different fruit and vegetable types and sizes
2Strength
If rigid gripper structure is used, then structural strength is improved, but adaptability to various sizes and shapes of fruits and vegetables deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines rigid support structures with flexible elastomeric materials to create a composite gripper system. The rigid components provide necessary structural strength and support, while the flexible outer layer provides adaptability and conformability to different shapes, achieving both strength and versatility simultaneously
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the static rigid structure into a dynamic system where the flexible body can change its configuration based on pneumatic actuation. This allows the gripper to dynamically adapt its shape and contact points to match the geometry of different fruits and vegetables while maintaining structural integrity through the rigid support framework
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The gripper achieves stable and soft grasping of fruits and vegetables, reducing damage and enhancing harvesting efficiency by adapting to various sizes and shapes through adjustable opening sizes and shapes, ensuring high success rates and minimal environmental disturbance.
Implementation Method 1
when the flexible body is exhausted, a size of the flexible harvesting opening gradually reduces in the direction away from the base; and when the flexible body is inflated, the size of the flexible harvesting opening gradually increases in the direction away from the base
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible-rigid integrated gripper for harvesting fruits and vegetables in a breaking-off manner, and a harvesting robot. The flexible-rigid integrated gripper for harvesting fruits and vegetables in a breaking-off manner includes a base, a driving member, and a flexible harvesting mechanism. The flexible harvesting mechanism includes a rigid member, and a flexible body. The flexible body is internally provided with a mounting space in fit with the rigid member, and the rigid member is arranged in the mounting space. The flexible body is arranged on the base. In a direction away from the base, a thickness of a side wall of the flexible body gradually decreases, the mounting space gradually increases, and a flexible harvesting opening in fit with a fruit/vegetable is formed by an inner side surface of the flexible body.