A Soft Active Surface Gripper for Safe In Hand Manipulation of Fragile Objects
Sheng Xiang, Jiahao Li, Yinqi Zhang, Zhong Wei, Jia Liu, Yang Yang
Abstract
This paper introduces a soft active surface gripper designed to manipulate fragile objects safely. This gripper consists of two fingers, each equipped with two compliant pneumatic actuators and a soft active surface. The gripper utilizes the elastic belt as its soft active surface, which is driven by a motor, and the opening angle of the elastic band is controlled by pneumatic actuators. The novel design allows for the passive deformation of both the soft active surface and the compliant pneumatic actuator, enabling adaptation to various object shapes and demonstrating superior handling capabilities for delicate items. By synchronizing the opening and closing of the pneumatic fingers with the conveying motion of the active surface, the active surface gripper realizes three degrees of freedom (DOF) for in-plane manipulation, specifically two translational movements and one rotational movement. A prototype gripper has been designed and fabricated for in-plane manipulation experiments with fragile objects, including strawberries, miniature cupcakes, and pears. Experimental results demonstrate that the gripper can execute in-plane in-hand manipulation of fragile objects with varying geometries and dimensions while maintaining secure and robust handling, preventing object slippage and preserving surface integrity without causing damage.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{iros2025_asoftactivesurfa,
title = {A Soft Active Surface Gripper for Safe In Hand Manipulation of Fragile Objects},
author = {Sheng Xiang and Jiahao Li and Yinqi Zhang and Zhong Wei and Jia Liu and Yang Yang},
booktitle = {IROS 2025},
year = {2025}
}