Soft Robotic EOAT with Displacement Fluid for Confined Space Grasping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional robotic systems face difficulties in navigating confined spaces and grasping items of varying sizes and shapes due to bulky components and tight storage constraints in warehouses, leading to inefficient retrieval processes.
Innovation Solution
The development of soft robotic grasping systems with elastomeric fingers that use a displacement fluid to displace objects, allowing for better positioning and grasping by curling when pressure changes occur, and incorporating sensors and controllers to manage fluid flow and object detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional robotic arms with bulky components are used, then they can provide sufficient strength and stability, but they cannot navigate confined spaces in warehouses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs soft robotic fingers constructed from elastomeric materials with embedded fluid channels, replacing rigid metallic components. These flexible fingers can bend and conform to confined spaces while maintaining sufficient grasping force through pneumatic actuation, directly resolving the contradiction between navigation capability and robotic arm size.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses pneumatic actuators with fluid-filled chambers to provide controlled motion and grasping force. The elastomeric fingers contain internal fluid channels that allow pressure-driven actuation, enabling the soft robotic system to achieve both compact size for confined space navigation and sufficient force for grasping various objects.
2Strength
If rigid robotic grippers are used, then they can provide strong grasping force, but they may damage soft or delicate objects
Solution Approach 1:
The soft robotic fingers are constructed from compliant elastomeric materials that can conform to the shape of the grasped object. This flexibility allows the gripper to distribute force evenly across the object surface, providing sufficient grasping strength while preventing damage to soft or delicate objects through adaptive contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts grasping parameters by controlling fluid pressure in the elastomeric fingers. By varying the internal pressure, the robotic system can modulate the grasping force to match the delicateness of different objects, ensuring both adequate holding strength and prevention of damage.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional robotic systems are used, then they can handle standard objects, but they cannot adapt to items of varying sizes, weights, and shapes
Solution Approach 1:
The soft robotic gripper with multiple elastomeric fingers can adapt to various object types by adjusting the inflation pressure and curling degree of each finger independently. This universal design allows a single gripper configuration to handle objects of different sizes, weights, and shapes without requiring tool changes or complex reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic control of fluid pressure to adapt to different grasping requirements. By real-time adjustment of pneumatic pressure in the elastomeric fingers, the robotic system can modify its compliance and grasping force to match the specific characteristics of each object, achieving high adaptability through simple pressure control rather than complex mechanical reconfiguration.
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
Enables efficient and adaptive grasping of items without damaging them, allowing for operation in tight spaces and handling multiple object types without marking surfaces, improving the reliability and versatility of robotic retrieval systems.
Implementation Method 1
The soft robotic finger may be configured to curl when a pressure change occurs within the internal void
Implementation Method 2
an outlet located at the tip of the robotic finger for discharging a displacement fluid so as to displace a target object
Implementation Method 3
The end effector may include a sensor (e.g., a camera, an infrared distance detector, LIDAR, RADAR, etc.) configured to detect when a target object is located in close proximity to a blocking object
Implementation Method 4
The end effector may further include a controller configured to provide a displacement fluid to the inlet to cause a discharge of the displacement fluid through the outlet
Data Source
AI summary
Exemplary embodiments relate to unique structures for robotic end-of-arm-tools (EOATs). In particular, exemplary embodiments provide structures allowing a displacement fluid to be discharged from a distal end of a robotic finger. The discharge may be used to displace a target object, such as an object that is adjacent to another blocking object or the side of a container. After the target object is displaced, the EOAT may be better able to maneuver into a gripping posture and may be able to secure a better grasp on the target object.