Magic-ball Soft Gripper
The Origami Robot Gripper is a robotic arm featuring a 3D printed silicone grip that conto
Technical Specifications
Grasping force | 120 |
Material | |
Manufacturing method |
Overview
The origami “magic-ball” is a well-established origami design. It is folded from a rectangular piece of paper pre-creased with a repeating waterbomb pattern that is offset by a half-unit on every new row. The waterbomb pattern features a square with folds along its diagonals and a vertical axis of radial symmetry. This “magic-ball” structure can be reversibly changed between a spherical shape and a cylindrical shape, therefore it has been utilized previously in the development of morphing robots
The gripper-to mount connector is surrounded with silicone skin. When the gripper closes in on an object, a vacuum collapses the silicone around it, effectively grasping the item without crushing it—and it’s capable of doing so for objects that are up to a hundred times its own weight.
The origami “magic-ball” can exhibit a significant radialcontraction with a volume reduction of more than 90% [30].Furthermore, if one end of the origami “magic-ball” is fixedand closed, then the other end can be opened to form ahollow hemispherical shape
References
Paper describes the design and fabrication process, and the characterization of the gripper.