Rapid grasping of fabric using bionic soft grippers with elastic instability

Abstract: Robot grasping is subject to an inherent tradeoff: Grippers with a large span typically take a longer time to close, and fast grippers usually cover a small span. However, many practical applications of soft grippers require the ability to close a large distance rapidly. For example, grasping cloth typically requires pressing a wide span of fabric into a graspable cusp. Here, we demonstrate a human-finger-inspired snapping gripper that exploits elastic instability to achieve reversible rapid closure over a wide span. Using prestressed semi-rigid material as the skeleton, the gripper fingers can widely open (86 ~) and rapidly close (46 ms) following a trajectory similar to that of a thumb-index finger pinching which is 2.7 times and 10.9 times better than the reference gripper in terms of span and speed, respectively. We theoretically give the design principle, simulatively verify the method, and experimentally test this gripper on a variety of rigid, flexible, and limp objects and achieve good adaptivity and mechanical performance. This research helps bridge the gap between strong industry manipulators and safe human-interactive robotic hands.