Kirigami-Inspired Ultralight Robotic Gripper

A precision “soft” robotic gripper based upon primate hand morphology. Traditional linkage-based grippers grasp objects through controlled rotation of a rigid linkage system. Their ability to grasp variable shaped items in an atraumatic fashion is Limited.Soft robotic grippers conform to arbitrary shapes of objects via elastic deformation shape adaption. They are able to provide continuous elastic deformations through bending resulting inatraumatic handling of a variety of objects. The invention is a novel approach that exploits a kirigami elasticity technique to build lightweight, cost-effective, and robust “limb-like” soft robotic gripper which can mimic the holding and pinching postures. The invention utilizes a multi-stablekirigami lattice by varying the space geometry of linear parallel cutting patterns that triggers global buckling in the multi-stable kirigami structure giving rise to gripping actuation. The gripper is able to capture a variety of objects from a piece of ice with arbitrary shape to slippery hydrogel balls and regular screws. Misty Farrell mfpenn@bu.edu 617-358-3795