Features Overview

Compliant end of arm tooling utilizing the fin-ray effect for use in handling of delicate and amorphous objects. 

• Initially developed for use on an underwater robotic vehicle to grasp a wide variety of objects without specific geometry requirements for rigid tips.

• Lead screw, pneumatic, and hand operated versions were made and tested.

• Multi-material 3d printing was used to further influence the anisotropic deformation of the manipulators in a controlled manner.

Hand Held Prototypes

The specifics of the manipulator design was iteratively developed and refined through prototypes that could be hand actuated.

Changing the specifics of the tip geometry, internal reinforcement, and scale, lead to determining what features impact what functionality of the design so that final versions could be created for a specific application.