A Solenoid Actuated Gecko-like Robotic Gripper

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Arak University, Arak, Iran

2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Arak University

Abstract

The Researchers seeking to expand the capabilities of robots have begun looking to biological systems for inspiration. One particularly agile creature, the gecko lizard, is remarkably adept at maneuvering across both flat and vertical surfaces. The study of the gecko’s adhesive system has informed the design of several synthetic adhesives in recent years. These low consuming energy adhesives had a successful performance in climbing robots and robotic grippers. The existing grippers mainly use tendon mechanism for transmitting force inside the gripper and electrical motors for actuating the gripper. This paper concentrates on design and fabrication of a new gripper which uses solenoid for actuation, and Scuttt-Russel mechanism instead of tendon mechanism for transmitting force. The new gripper is more robust and cheaper than existing grippers. To verify the applicability of proposed gripper, experiments were conducted on a variety of substrates that demonstrated the gripper’s successful operation. Experimental results demonstrated 4.6, 4.5 and 4 kPa average normal adhesion pressure on the surface of acrylic, steel and glass respectively. Also, maximum measured adhesion increased 20% in comparison with previous tendon gripper. The results illustrate that a Solenoid actuator with Scott-Russel mechanism has the potential to be used as a new actuator in gecko-inspired gripper.

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Iranian Journal of Manufacturing Engineering
Volume 6, Issue 3
July and August 2019
Pages 43-50

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