A Novel Under-Actuated Robotic Hand for Production Tasks

Abstract

The automation of garment manufacturing has been intensified due to labor shortages and amplified production needs. The handling and manipulation of fabric alone consume nearly 80% of the total production line time. Hence, there is a significant research focus on developing specialized grippers for fabric handling. This paper discusses the design of an under-actuated robotic hand tailored to efficiently handle garments and perform post-production tasks, such as integration into ironing or screen-printing machines. To evaluate its effectiveness, experiments simulating the task of placing garments onto a rectangular plate, akin to a screen-printing machine, were conducted.