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This paper introduces a hybrid rigid-soft robotic gripper that combines membrane-based pneumatic actuators with a dual ratchet-pawl mechanism to achieve shape adaptation, uniform force distribution, and self-locking capabilities. Experimental results show that the gripper can handle a maximum load of 4200 g while maintaining a significantly lower energy consumption of 42.6 J per grasp cycle, a 50.05% reduction compared to conventional soft grippers. The design effectively addresses the challenges of compliant grasping in agricultural automation, making it a viable solution for scalable harvesting tasks.
Achieving a maximum load capacity of 4200 g with a 50% reduction in energy consumption, this gripper redefines the capabilities of robotic manipulation in agriculture.
Conventional robotic grippers face a significant challenge in agricultural automation: the trade-off between compliant, adaptive grasping, pressure balancing among all joints, and high load capacity, often at the cost of high energy consumption. This paper presents a novel hybrid rigid-soft gripper that integrated low-cost, membrane-based pneumatic actuators with 3D-printed dual ratchet-pawl mechanisms to simultaneously achieve shape adaptation, uniform force distribution, and energy-free self-locking. The dual-ratchet structure assembled in an offset configuration significantly increased the angular resolution of the joint locking mechanism. Key experimental results demonstrated the gripper's superior performance: a remarkable maximum load capacity of 4200 g, far exceeding that of conventional soft grippers (45-210 g); more uniform force distribution across object sizes (1.75-35.29% difference ratio) compared to a rigid gripper (56.77-66.44%), with peak contact forces remaining below surface damage thresholds; and a 50.05% reduction in total energy consumption to 42.6 J per grasp cycle, achieved by eliminating the need for continuous pneumatic pressure through the self-locking mechanism, compared to 85.28 J for a conventional soft gripper. The combination of additive manufacturing for ratchets and commercially available materials for pneumatic chambers ensured a low-cost and easily fabricated design. These findings validated that the proposed gripper successfully bridged the gap between soft compliance and rigid reliability, offering a robust and efficient solution for scalable agricultural harvesting and manipulation tasks.
