Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

A Modular Pneumatic Soft Gripper Design for Aerial Grasping and Landing

Hiu Ching Cheung, Ching-Wei Chang, Bailun Jiang, Chih-Yung Wen, Henry K. Chu

TL;DR

This work tackles the challenge of autonomous aerial grasping and landing with minimal hardware burden by introducing a lightweight modular soft pneumatic gripper mounted under a quadrotor-based soft aerial vehicle (SAV). The gripper offers two 4‑finger configurations, H-base and X-base, and can double as soft landing gear when deflated, reducing the need for rigid landing gear and improving flight efficiency. A feed-forward proportional pressure control strategy accelerates and stabilizes inflation/deflation, enabling reliable grasping and safe landings, with experimental validation showing a 217 g payload under an 808 g SAV and successful indoor grasping and landing on both flat and inclined surfaces. The modular design, rapid fabrication, and dual-use capability provide a practical path toward versatile, lightweight aerial manipulation systems with improved handling of diverse object shapes.

Abstract

Aerial robots have garnered significant attention due to their potential applications in various industries, such as inspection, search and rescue, and drone delivery. Successful missions often depend on the ability of these robots to grasp and land effectively. This paper presents a novel modular soft gripper design tailored explicitly for aerial grasping and landing operations. The proposed modular pneumatic soft gripper incorporates a feed-forward proportional controller to regulate pressure, enabling compliant gripping capabilities. The modular connectors of the soft fingers offer two configurations for the 4-tip soft gripper, H-base (cylindrical) and X-base (spherical), allowing adaptability to different target objects. Additionally, the gripper can serve as a soft landing gear when deflated, eliminating the need for an extra landing gear. This design reduces weight, simplifies aerial manipulation control, and enhances flight efficiency. We demonstrate the efficacy of indoor aerial grasping and achieve a maximum payload of 217 g using the proposed soft aerial vehicle and its H-base pneumatic soft gripper (808 g).

A Modular Pneumatic Soft Gripper Design for Aerial Grasping and Landing

TL;DR

This work tackles the challenge of autonomous aerial grasping and landing with minimal hardware burden by introducing a lightweight modular soft pneumatic gripper mounted under a quadrotor-based soft aerial vehicle (SAV). The gripper offers two 4‑finger configurations, H-base and X-base, and can double as soft landing gear when deflated, reducing the need for rigid landing gear and improving flight efficiency. A feed-forward proportional pressure control strategy accelerates and stabilizes inflation/deflation, enabling reliable grasping and safe landings, with experimental validation showing a 217 g payload under an 808 g SAV and successful indoor grasping and landing on both flat and inclined surfaces. The modular design, rapid fabrication, and dual-use capability provide a practical path toward versatile, lightweight aerial manipulation systems with improved handling of diverse object shapes.

Abstract

Aerial robots have garnered significant attention due to their potential applications in various industries, such as inspection, search and rescue, and drone delivery. Successful missions often depend on the ability of these robots to grasp and land effectively. This paper presents a novel modular soft gripper design tailored explicitly for aerial grasping and landing operations. The proposed modular pneumatic soft gripper incorporates a feed-forward proportional controller to regulate pressure, enabling compliant gripping capabilities. The modular connectors of the soft fingers offer two configurations for the 4-tip soft gripper, H-base (cylindrical) and X-base (spherical), allowing adaptability to different target objects. Additionally, the gripper can serve as a soft landing gear when deflated, eliminating the need for an extra landing gear. This design reduces weight, simplifies aerial manipulation control, and enhances flight efficiency. We demonstrate the efficacy of indoor aerial grasping and achieve a maximum payload of 217 g using the proposed soft aerial vehicle and its H-base pneumatic soft gripper (808 g).
Paper Structure (22 sections, 6 equations, 13 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 22 sections, 6 equations, 13 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. Motivation
  3. Related Work
  4. Contribution
  5. MODULAR SOFT GRIPPER DESIGN
  6. Mechanical Design
  7. Fabrication
  8. Electronics
  9. MODULAR SOFT GRIPPER CONTROL
  10. Airflow Control System
  11. Pressure Regulation
  12. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
  13. Experiment Implementation
  14. Aerial Grasping Test
  15. Static Grasping Test
  16. ...and 7 more sections

Figures (13)

  • Figure 1: Illustration of the proposed modular pneumatic soft gripper with a conventional drone.
  • Figure 2: Dimensions of the X-base (spherical) soft gripper when it is (a) initially opened, (b) fully opened, and (c) fully closed. And the dimensions of the H-base (cylindrical) soft gripper when it is (d) initially opened, (e) fully opened, and (f) fully closed.
  • Figure 3: The exploded view (a) and assembly (b) of the mold of the soft finger’s main body. The exploded view (c) and assembly (d) of the mold of the soft finger’s cover. (e) The side view of a soft gripper.
  • Figure 4: The exploded CAD view of the soft gripper (including weight information).
  • Figure 5: Airflow system of the soft gripper when (a) the valve operation for inflation turns on; (b) the valve operation for deflation turns on.
  • ...and 8 more figures