Design, Analysis, and Test of a Novel Underactuated Gripper

This paper proposes a novel underactuated gripper with a differential linkage mechanism, aiming to enhance the precise force control and adaptation. The proposed gripper is of a simple mechanical structure, which consists of an underactuated grasping unit, a force sensor, a linear motor, a support frame, and a gripping unit. As such, a cost-effective gripping solution is presented. The gripping system, directly driven by a single actuator, can automatically adjust to various object shapes and sizes. The force control of the proposed gripper provides a wide range of measurement and precise control. The dual-level sensing approach establishes the gripping capability for both rigid and flexible objects gripping tasks. The working performance of the proposed gripping is evaluated on different size gripping tests. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of our gripper with precise force control. Comparing with the classical robotic grippers, this work presents a better alternative in precise and adaptable gripping tasks.