Date of Award
1-1-2022
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Ocean Engineering
Department
Ocean Engineering
First Advisor
Stephen Licht
Abstract
This project aimed to advance the deployment opportunities of soft grippers by providing a technique to quantitatively evaluate the loading distribution of a manipulator. In an underwater environment, soft grippers show great promise as they provide a means of delicate manipulation that has been claimed to largely surpasses the capabilities of traditional rigid grippers. The inherent compliance of soft grippers passively eliminates accidental shock and point loading; however, this compliant mechanic also complicates the quantitative assessment of measuring and mapping the loading exerted by a soft gripper. Knowing the loading distribution of a soft gripper would provide a numerical means to justify the claim of capability superiority over a traditional mechanical gripper. This project successfully proved that a pressure-sensitive film could capture the maximum load distribution of a fluid elastomer actuator aided granular jamming gripper in an underwater environment. Analysis of the distribution loading shows that this gripper exerted a maximum pressure loading which saturated the ultra extreme low film (>50.3 kPa) in small regions where granular point loading was observed, while SPI’s Topaq Analysis reported the average pressure to be 29.13 kPa. This jamming gripper was designed to be field-interchangeable with the Blue Robotics Newton Gripper which shows average pressure loadings up to three times greater than the jamming gripper.
Recommended Citation
Rock, Michael, "THE QUANTIFICATION AND REDESIGN OF A GRANULAR JAMMING GRIPPER WITH INTERNAL PRINTED HYDRAULICS" (2022). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 2167.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/2167
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