A Variable Stiffness Bioinspired Swallowing Gripper Based on Particle Jamming
Publication: Soft Robotics
Abstract
As the chameleon tongue swallows the food, it wraps the entrapped meat around the food, ensuring that it is completely enclosed and preventing it from falling off. Inspired by swallow behavior, this article introduces the design, manufacture, modeling, and experimentation of a variable stiffness swallowing gripper (VSSG). The VSSG is comprised of an intimal membrane, an adventitial membrane, and an internal medium of particles and liquid water. This gripper integrates swallowing behavior with a particle jamming mechanism, exhibiting both soft and rigid state. In the soft state, it gently swallows objects by folding its intimal and adventitial membranes. In the rigid state, the bearing capacity is enhanced by promoting particle jamming phenomenon through pumping out liquid water. Therefore, the proposed gripper has the capability to mitigate the issue of extrusion force applied on the object, while simultaneously enhancing the load-bearing capacity of swallowing gripper. In this article, the swallowing principle of the VSSG is analyzed, the mathematical model of the holding force and extrusion force is deduced, and preliminary experiments are carried out to verify the actual gripping effect of the gripper. The experimental results demonstrate that the VSSG can successfully swallow objects of different shapes in the soft state, exhibiting excellent flexibility and adaptability. The carrying capacity of the gripper in the rigid state increased approximately twofold compared with its soft state. In addition, several swallowing grippers with different filling medium were comparatively studied, and the results show that the VSSG has a large load-bearing capability.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1. Chen F, Wang MY. Design optimization of soft robots: A review of the state of the art. IEEE Robot Automat Mag 2020;27(4):27–43;
2. Singh K, Gupta S. Controlled actuation, adhesion, and stiffness in soft robots: A review. J Intell Robot Syst 2022;106(3):59;
3. Rus D, Tolley MT. Design, fabrication and control of soft robots. Nature 2015;521(7553):467–475;
4. Shintake J, Cacucciolo V, Floreano D, et al. Soft robotic grippers. Adv Mater 2018;30(29):e1707035;
5. Licht S, Collins E, Mendes ML, et al. Stronger at depth: Jamming grippers as deep sea sampling tools. Soft Robot 2017;4(4):305–316;
6. Xia Q, Xu L, Liu C, et al. An omnidirectional encircled deployable polyhedral gripper for contactless delicate midwater creatures sampling. Adv Eng Mater 2022;25(8);
7. Zhang H, Kumar AS, Chen F, et al. Topology optimized multimaterial soft fingers for applications on grippers, rehabilitation, and artificial hands. IEEE/ASME Trans Mechatron 2019;24(1):120–131;
8. Tiziani L, Hart A, Cahoon T, et al. Empirical characterization of modular variable stiffness inflatable structures for supernumerary grasp-assist devices. Int J Robot Res 2017;36(13–14):1391–1413;
9. Deimel R, Brock O. A novel type of compliant and underactuated robotic hand for dexterous grasping. Int J Robot Res 2016;35(1–3):161–185;
10. Puhlmann S, Harris J, Brock O. RBO Hand 3: A platform for soft dexterous manipulation. IEEE Trans Robot 2022;38(6):3434–3449;
11. Hao Y, Gong Z, Xie Z, et al. A soft bionic gripper with variable effective length. J Bionic Eng 2018;15(2):220–235;
12. Kang M, Han Y-J, Han M-W. A shape memory alloy-based soft actuator mimicking an elephant’s trunk. Polymers (Basel) 2023;15(5):1126;
13. Zhuo S, Zhao Z, Xie Z, et al. Complex multiphase organohydrogels with programmable mechanics toward adaptive soft-matter machines. Sci Adv 2020;6(5):eaax1464;
14. Wang W, Ahn S-H. Shape memory alloy-based soft gripper with variable stiffness for compliant and effective grasping. Soft Robot 2017;4(4):379–389;
15. Chen S, Pang Y, Cao Y, et al. Soft robotic manipulation system capable of stiffness variation and dexterous operation for safe human–machine interactions. Adv Materials Technologies 2021;6(5):2100084;
16. Xie Z, Domel AG, An N, et al. Octopus arm-inspired tapered soft actuators with suckers for improved grasping. Soft Robot 2020;7(5):639–648;
17. Ciarella L, Richter A, Henke, E‐F M. Integrated logic for dielectric elastomers: Replicating the reflex of the venus flytrap. Adv Materials Technologies 2023;8(12):2202000;
18. Zhang Z, Li X, Yu X, et al. Magnetic actuation bionic robotic gripper with bistable morphing structure. Composite Structures 2019;229:111422;
19. Noel AC, Hu DL. The tongue as a gripper. J Exp Biol 2018;221(Pt 7):jeb176289;
20. Brau F, Lanterbecq D, Zghikh L-N, et al. Dynamics of prey prehension by chameleons through viscous adhesion. Nature Phys 2016;12(10):931–935;
21. Chen R, Chen J-Q, Sun Y, et al. A chameleon tongue inspired shooting manipulator with vision-based localization and preying. IEEE Robot Autom Lett 2020;5(3):4923–4930;
22. Lalegani Dezaki M, Bodaghi M. Magnetically controlled bio-inspired elastomeric actuators with high mechanical energy storage. Soft Matter 2023;19(16):3015–3032;
23. Hao Y, Wang Z, Zhou Y, et al. A soft enveloping gripper with enhanced grasping ability via morphological adaptability. Advanced Intelligent Systems 2023;5(6):2200456;
24. Li H, Yao J, Liu C, et al. A bioinspired soft swallowing robot based on compliant guiding structure. Soft Robot 2020;7(4):491–499;
25. Zhu M, Xu W, Cheng LK. Esophageal peristaltic control of a soft-bodied swallowing robot by the central pattern generator. IEEE/ASME Trans Mechatron 2017;22(1):91–98;
26. Zhang Z, Zhou J, Yi B, et al. A flexible swallowing gripper for harvesting apples and its grasping force sensing model. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 2023;204:107489;
27. Root SE, Preston DJ, Feifke GO, et al. Bio-inspired design of soft mechanisms using a toroidal hydrostat. Cell Reports Physical Science 2021;2(9):100572;
28. Festo. Adaptive Shape Gripper DHEF, 2024. Available from: https://www.festo.com.cn/cn/en/p/adaptive-shape-gripper-id_DHEF/ [Last accessed: June 15, 2024].
29. Li H, Li X, Wang B, et al. A fault-tolerant soft swallowing robot capable of grasping delicate structures underwater. IEEE Robot Autom Lett 2023;8(6):3302–3309;
30. Sui D, Zhu Y, Zhao S, et al. A bioinspired soft swallowing gripper for universal adaptable grasping. Soft Robot 2022;9(1):36–56;
31. Brown E, Rodenberg N, Amend J, et al. Universal robotic gripper based on the jamming of granular material. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2010;107(44):18809–18814;
32. Amend J, Lipson H. The JamHand: Dexterous manipulation with minimal actuation. Soft Robot 2017;4(1):70–80;
33. Hou T, Yang X, Aiyama Y, et al. Design and experiment of a universal two-fingered hand with soft fingertips based on jamming effect. Mechanism and Machine Theory 2019;133:706–719;
34. Li L, Liu Z, Zhou M, et al. Flexible adhesion control by modulating backing stiffness based on jamming of granular materials. Smart Mater Struct 2019;28(11):115023;
35. Kapadia J, Yim M. Design and Performance of Nubbed Fluidizing Jamming Grippers. 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Saint Paul, MN, USA, 2012, pp. 5301–5306;
36. Kim Y-J, Cheng S, Kim S, et al. Design of a Tubular Snake-like Manipulator with Stiffening Capability by Layer Jamming. In: 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems IEEE: Vilamoura-Algarve, Portugal; 2012; 4251–4256;
37. Sui D, Wang T, Zhao S, et al. An enveloping soft gripper with high-load carrying capacity: design, characterization and application. IEEE Robot Autom Lett 2022;7(1):373–380;
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Soft Robotics
PubMed: 39058669
Copyright
Copyright 2024, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
History
Published online: 26 July 2024
Topics
Authors
Authors’ Contribution
M.L.: Conceptualization, writing—original draft, and project administration. X.H.: Formal analysis and methodology. Q.L.: Investigation, software, and visualization. Z.Y.: Writing—review and editing.
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.
Funding Information
This work was not supported by funds.
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Export Citation
Export citation
Select the format you want to export the citations of this publication.
View Options
Get Access
Access content
To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access.⚠ Society Access
If you are a member of a society that has access to this content please log in via your society website and then return to this publication.