A Soft Robotic Gripper for Pancake Handling: Design, Modelling, and Experimental Assessment

This paper studies the design and assessment of an innovative soft-rigid robotic gripper for handling pancakes with a focus on achieving a high success rate in gripping while preserving the pancake’s original shape. Being a hybrid softrigid design, the gripper benefits from being flexible so as not to damage the pancake and has enough rigidity to grip a stack of pancakes at a time. The gripper is designed to be versatile, accommodating different pancake sizes through part exchanges, and offers convenient independent replacement of the finger without requiring the entire gripper to be replaced. The gripper is manufactured using 3D printing, exploiting Flexible 80 A for its flexible components and polylactic acid (PLA) for the rigid elements. Particularly, the gripper features a shovel-like fingertip design, aimed at gently scooping pancakes to prevent undesired compression caused by excessive pressure. To assess the design’s feasibility and functionality, finite element analysis (FEA) is conducted. The gripper is experimentally validated using various types of pancakes as well as using FEA to assess its capabilities. Experimental trials involving real pancakes were conducted to evaluate the gripper’s performance to hold efficiently single and stacks.