A design of underwater soft gripper with water pressure sensing and enhanced stiffness

摘要

In this paper, a hydraulic soft gripper for underwater applications is designed to provide a solution for improvingthe gripping force as well as the sensing capability of the soft gripper. The soft gripper is made of silicone and hasan integrated semi-circular hydraulic network inside. To enhance the rigidity and grasping performance of the softgripper, we have integrated a restriction layer consisting of a spring steel plate in the soft gripper. Meanwhile, toenhance the sensing capability of this soft gripper, we have designed a water pressure sensor based on resistancestrain gauges and integrated it on the spring steel plate. Before fabrication, we determined the structural parametersof the soft gripper by geometric analysis. Then we experimentally evaluated its pressure-bearing capacity, bendingperformance, the role of spring steel plates, and the accuracy of the sensor.The experimental results show that thespring steel plate improves the gripping force of the soft gripper, the sensor also has high accuracy, and the builtfour-finger gripping system has good adaptability to objects of different shapes and weights.Compared with theexisting solutions, this solution takes a simpler structural form while improving the gripping force and sensingability of the soft gripper, and integrates the issues of improving the gripping force and sensing ability. The springsteel plate used in this paper not only improves the gripping force of the soft gripper but also provides a stable andreliable platform for installing sensors.