In this research work, a new configuration of a 3D haptic gripper for telemanipulation is proposed and optimally designed. The proposed haptic gripper, featuring three magnetorheological fluid brakes (MRBs), reflects the rolling torque, the grasping force and the approach force from the slave manipulator to the master operator. After describing the operational principle of the haptic gripper, an optimal design of the MRBs for the gripper is performed. The purpose of the optimization problem is to find the most compact MRB that can provide a required braking torque/force to the master operator while the off-state torque/force is kept as small as possible. In the optimal design, different types of MRBs and different MR fluids (MRFs) are considered. In order to obtain the optimal solution of the MRBs, an optimization approach based on finite element analysis (FEA) integrated with an optimization tool is used. The optimal solutions of the MRBs are then obtained and the optimized MRBs for the haptic gripper are identified. In addition, discussions on the optimal solutions and performance of the optimized MRBs are given.
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