The world’s first gripper, modelled after an elephant’s trunk by researchers at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, comes with precision as it can pick up objects with less than 1 millimeter diameter.
The newly invented device is extremely precise as researchers confirmed that an elephant’s trunk-like gripper can pick up a needle with a diameter of 0.25 millimeters from the ground.
It can also hold an object which is ten times bigger than the gripper.
Inspired by how an elephant picks up smaller objects by folding the end of the trunk and grab bigger objects by inhaling air, the team developed the gripper to pick up things by either gripping or adsorbing them.
The gripper is made up of a flexible structure consisting of a wire that can transform its shape and a flexible, thin wall to create the elephant’s trunk-like structure.
The gripper contains multiple microfluidic paths, which helps create a vacuum inside the device. As its microfluidic paths are flexible, the gripping part of the device is soft and capable of adjusting itself to match the shape of any object.
The KIMM said the gripper can be applied to many areas, as it is capable of not only grasping objects, but also of transferring them stably without mechanical devices or sensors.
It could also serve to act as an aid for seniors, arthritis sufferers, and disabled people with poor grip.
“If we put the gripper against the ground and create a vacuum as we close it, it would have the effect of pinching the floor with human fingers. So, the gripper can easily grab very thin objects,” said Song Sung-hyuk, a senior researcher at the KIMM.
According to the KIMM, traditional grippers, developed in gripping and adsorbing models, had limitations. The gripping models could only pick up objects within the length of the tongs. The adsorbing models could not grip thin objects such as a needle or paper.
Park Chan-hun, director of the AI robot research division at the KIMM, discussed the gripper’s capacity to handle objects in various sizes from deliberate parts or boxes without sensors which renders it useful in various industries.
The gripper is safe to use as its soft material helps prevent injury.
“We expect (the gripper) to greatly contribute to the development of service robots and companies that manufacture multiple products in different volumes,” he added.
