Development of an Autonomous Friction Gripper for Industrial Robots

Authors: Majid Tolouei-Rad, Peter Kalivitis

Abstract:

Industrial robots become useless without end-effectors that for many instances are in the form of friction grippers. Commonly friction grippers apply frictional forces to different objects on the basis of programmers- experiences. This puts a limitation on the effectiveness of gripping force that may result in damaging the object. This paper describes various stages of design and development of a low cost sensor-based robotic gripper that would facilitate the task of applying right gripping forces to different objects. The gripper is also equipped with range sensors in order to avoid collisions of the gripper with objects. It is a fully functional automated pick and place gripper which can be used in many industrial applications. Yet it can also be altered or further developed in order to suit a larger number of industrial activities. The current design of gripper could lead to designing completely automated robot grippers able to improve the efficiency and productivity of industrial robots.

Keywords: Control system, end-effector, robot, sensor

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1081930

References:

[1] S. Haddadin, and A. Albu-Schäffer, "Safe physical human-robot interaction: measurements, analysis and new insights," Robotics Research, vol.66, 2011, pp. 395-407.
[2] B. Koyuncu, and M. G├╝zel, "Software development for the kinematic analysis of a lynx 6 robot arm," International Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 4, 2008, pp. 228-233.
[3] D. Tolani, A. Goswami, N. I. Badler, "Real-time inverse kinematics techniques for anthropomorphic limbs," Graphical Models, vol. 62, 2000, pp. 353-388.
[4] A. Kelly, E. Capstick, D. Huber, H. Herman, P. Rander and R. Warner, "Real-time photorealistic virtualized reality interface for remote mobile robot control," Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol. 70, 2011, pp. 211-226.
[5] Y. Dadji, H. Michalik, N. Kohn, J. Steiner, G. Beckmann, T. Möglich and J. U. Varchmin," A communication architecture for distributed realtime robot control," Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol. 67, 2011, pp. 213-231.
[6] M. H. Korayem, K. Khoshhal, and H. Aliakbarpour, "Vision based robot experiment: measurement of path related characteristics," International Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology, vol 2, 2006, pp. 170-174.
[7] K. Oh, J. P. Hwang, E. Kim, and H. Lee, "Path planning of a robot manipulator using retrieval RRT strategy", World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 21, 2007, pp. 1307-6884.
[8] T. C. Manjunath, and C. Ardil, "Design of an artificial intelligence based automatic task planner or a robotic system," International Journal of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, vol. 2, 2008, pp. 1- 6.
[9] M. Samaka, "Robot task-level programming language and simulation, " World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 9, 2005, pp. 99-103.
[10] K. B. Shimoga, "Robot Grasp Synthesis Algorithms: A Survey," International Journal of Robotics Research, vol. 15, 1996, pp. 230-266.
[11] M. R. Cutkoski, "On grasp choice, grasp models, and the design of hands for manufacturing tasks," IEEE Trans. Robot. Automat, vol. 5, 1989, pp. 269-279.
[12] A. Osyczka, Evolutionary algorithms for single and multicriteria design optimization. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag, 2002.
[13] M. Ceccarelli, J. Cuadrado, and D. Dopico, "An optimum synthesis for gripping mechanisms by using natural coordinates," Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, vol. 216, 2002, pp 643-653.
[14] J. Cuadrado, M. A. Naya, M. Ceccarelli, and G. Carbone, "An optimum design procedure for two-finger grippers: a case study," Electronic Journal of Computational Kinematics, vol. 1, 2002.
[15] J. A. Cabrera, F. Nadal, J. P. Munoz, and A. Simon, "Multiobjective constrained optimal synthesis of planar mechanisms using a new evolutionary algorithm," Mechanism and Machine Theory, vol. 42, 2007, pp.791-806.
[16] C. Lanni, and M. Ceccarelli, "An optimization problem algorithm for kinematic design of mechanisms for two-finger grippers," Open Mechanical Engineering Journal, vol. 3, 2009, pp. 49-62.
[17] R. Datta, and K. Deb, "Multi-objective design and analysis of robot gripper configurations using an evolutionary-classical approach," 13th Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, Dublin, Ireland, 2011, pp. 1843-1850.
[18] X. Zhang, and C. A. Nelson, "Multiple-criteria kinematic optimization for the design of spherical serial mechanisms using genetic algorithms," Journal of Mechanical Design, vol. 133, 2011.
[19] Pololu Robotics and Electronics 2000, accessed April 2010, Retrieved from Pololu Robotics and Electronics; http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1350