Dual-durometer combination of vacuum cup for aerial grasping

Abstract

In the application of a conventional vacuum cup, a large compression force is required to eliminate the gap between the end of the cup and the object surface. However, the large interaction force will be a challenge for micro flying robots to grasp the object in the air using the suction cup as a gripper. To address the problem, a dual-durometer combined vacuum cup for aerial grasping is proposed. The combined cup is composed of one outer hard cup and one inner soft cup. The soft cup is longer than the hard one so the initial contact phase is implemented by the soft cup. The required compression force to engage the soft cup is dramatically decreased. The hard cup will be guided and pressed by the adhesion force induced by the soft one. Therefore, a larger adhesion force can be provided by the outer hard cup. The comparative experiments of static error-tolerance and aerial grasping have been conducted. The results demonstrate that the required contact pressure is significantly reduced and the object can be grasped robustly.