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Minimal Footprint Grasping Inspired by Ants

Mohamed Sorour, Barbara Webb

TL;DR

The paper addresses robust grasping in clutter with a minimal-contact footprint by introducing a four-leg, ant-inspired gripper that uses high-friction pads, low-friction hairs, and a single-segment tarsus-like end to guide interactions. Through stress analysis and a derived grasping-force model, it demonstrates structural feasibility and force capabilities for a range of object heights and geometries, enabling substantial grip while keeping deflections within elastic limits. Experimental validation across 18 objects and cluttered bin scenarios shows universal grasp success and effective penetration in dense scenes, highlighting the hairs as a separating pre-contact medium and the tarsus-like tip for guidance. The work offers a simple, low-cost, scalable approach to bin-picking and similar applications, with practical implications for reducing gripper footprint while maintaining reliability in cluttered environments, aligning with insect-inspired principles of compliant, distributed contact.

Abstract

Ants are highly capable of grasping objects in clutter, and we have recently observed that this involves substantial use of their forelegs. The forelegs, more specifically the tarsi, have high friction microstructures (setal pads), are covered in hairs, and have a flexible under-actuated tip. Here we abstract these features to test their functional advantages for a novel low-cost gripper design, suitable for bin-picking applications. In our implementation, the gripper legs are long and slim, with high friction gripping pads, low friction hairs and single-segment tarsus-like structure to mimic the insect's setal pads, hairs, and the tarsi's interactive compliance. Experimental evaluation shows this design is highly robust for grasping a wide variety of individual consumer objects, with all grasp attempts successful. In addition, we demonstrate this design is effective for picking single objects from dense clutter, a task at which ants also show high competence. The work advances grasping technology and shed new light on the mechanical importance of hairy structures and tarsal flexibility in insects.

Minimal Footprint Grasping Inspired by Ants

TL;DR

The paper addresses robust grasping in clutter with a minimal-contact footprint by introducing a four-leg, ant-inspired gripper that uses high-friction pads, low-friction hairs, and a single-segment tarsus-like end to guide interactions. Through stress analysis and a derived grasping-force model, it demonstrates structural feasibility and force capabilities for a range of object heights and geometries, enabling substantial grip while keeping deflections within elastic limits. Experimental validation across 18 objects and cluttered bin scenarios shows universal grasp success and effective penetration in dense scenes, highlighting the hairs as a separating pre-contact medium and the tarsus-like tip for guidance. The work offers a simple, low-cost, scalable approach to bin-picking and similar applications, with practical implications for reducing gripper footprint while maintaining reliability in cluttered environments, aligning with insect-inspired principles of compliant, distributed contact.

Abstract

Ants are highly capable of grasping objects in clutter, and we have recently observed that this involves substantial use of their forelegs. The forelegs, more specifically the tarsi, have high friction microstructures (setal pads), are covered in hairs, and have a flexible under-actuated tip. Here we abstract these features to test their functional advantages for a novel low-cost gripper design, suitable for bin-picking applications. In our implementation, the gripper legs are long and slim, with high friction gripping pads, low friction hairs and single-segment tarsus-like structure to mimic the insect's setal pads, hairs, and the tarsi's interactive compliance. Experimental evaluation shows this design is highly robust for grasping a wide variety of individual consumer objects, with all grasp attempts successful. In addition, we demonstrate this design is effective for picking single objects from dense clutter, a task at which ants also show high competence. The work advances grasping technology and shed new light on the mechanical importance of hairy structures and tarsal flexibility in insects.
Paper Structure (8 sections, 9 equations, 8 figures)

This paper contains 8 sections, 9 equations, 8 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Insect Leg Gripper
  3. Stress Analysis
  4. Maximum grasping force
  5. Experiments
  6. Setup and Methodology
  7. Results and Discussion
  8. Conclusion

Figures (8)

  • Figure 1: A novel gripper design mimicking the functional capabilities of the ant tarsus
  • Figure 2: Ants use foreleg's tarsus to grasp and manipulate objects.
  • Figure 3: Insect leg gripper CAD model in front and bottom views, key dimensions shown in millimeters.
  • Figure 4: Maximum applicable grasping force versus object height.
  • Figure 5: Set of objects used to evaluate the proposed gripper. (a) Sprayer packaging (490gm), (b) sauce glass bottle (690gm), (c) chocolate drink cylinder (295gm), (d) soap bar pack (600gm), (e) shampoo (375gm), (f) ketchup bottle (500gm), (g) nutella (375gm), (h) saxa salt package (384gm), (i) nescafe coffee jar (323gm), (j) lor coffee jar (442gm), (k) biscoff spread (610gm), (l) pasta box (533gm), (m) jam jar (500gm), (n) nesquick drink (452gm), (o) honey bottle (365gm), (p) drink teabags (60gm), (q) toy1 (150gm), and (r) toy2 (45gm).
  • ...and 3 more figures