PFI-RP: Robotic Manipulation of Small, Delicate, and Curved Objects Using Tunable Dry Adhesion

这一创新-研究伙伴关系(PFI-RP)项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是推动一项技术的发展，使机器人能够操纵微小、精致和弯曲的物体。在自动组装和包装过程中，处理在精密设备和先进电子设备中经常遇到的此类对象，利用现有的技术是具有挑战性的。这个PFI-RP项目将开发基于粘合的微型夹持器来解决这一痛点。拟议的项目旨在开发具有动态可调附着力的微型柔软抓手，用于机器人操纵微小、精细和弯曲的物体。这些柔软的夹持器包含一种具有刚性的活性材料，可以通过电信号来改变，以适应应用。夹持器的设计使得刚度的变化导致接触面处的附着力的变化。这种附着力的可调性将被用来可控地抓住细小精致的物体。通过力学和热学建模，软抓手的设计将具有适当的几何形状和尺寸，以在包括响应时间、激活电压、对象大小和重量在内的多个指标上实现最佳性能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is to advance a technology that enables the robotic manipulation of small, delicate, and curved objects. Handling such objects, which are frequently encountered in precision devices and advanced electronics, in automatic assembly and packaging processes is challenging with technologies that exist today. This PFI-RP project will develop miniaturized adhesion-based grippers to address this pain point. The proposed project aims to develop miniaturized soft grippers with dynamically tunable adhesion for robotic manipulation of small, delicate, and curved objects. These soft grippers contain an active material with a stiffness that can be changed through an electrical signal to match the application. The grippers are designed such that the stiffness change leads to a change in adhesion at the contact surface. This adhesion tunability will be exploited for controllably gripping small and delicate objects. Through mechanics and thermal modeling, the soft grippers will be designed with appropriate geometry and dimensions for optimal performance on multiple metrics including response time, activation voltage, object size and weight.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.