Bimanual Handling of Deformable Objects With Hybrid Adhesion

Abstract

We present hybrid adhesive end-effectors for bimanual handling of deformable objects. The gripping system is driven by the need to achieve alignment on deformable and irregular surfaces while maintaining a large area of contact for efficient use of the adhesive. The objective of the gripping system is to reduce the internal grasping force needed to securely lift and manipulate objects with two arms, for example, in warehousing and retail environments. The end-effectors are designed with features meant to accommodate surface irregularities in macroscale form, mesoscale waviness, and microscale roughness, achieving good shear adhesion on surfaces with little gripping force. The new gripping system combines passive mechanical compliance with a hybrid electrostatic-adhesive pad so that humanoid robots can grasp a wide range of materials including paperboard and textured plastics with internal grasping forces of 1 N and 0.5 N, respectively. These grasping forces are more than 10 times smaller than without the hybrid pad. As an application, we demonstrate a humanoid robot handling delicate deformable objects ranging from flowers in a plastic sleeve to a 2.4 kg sack of rice with less than 1.5 N of normal gripping force.