Design and fabrication of soft sensors for smart gripper

Abstract

Sensors for grippers are critical in allowing precise and reliable handling of objects. The ability to accurately sense the position, orientation and force of objects being handled by grippers is essential for tasks such as pick and place operations. The main challenges include ensuring accuracy and reliability of the sensors, integrating sensor data with the gripper's control system in real time, and ensuring durability in harsh operating conditions. This study focuses on the design and fabrication of a capacitive sensor for use in smart grippers. The sensor is intended to provide accurate feedback on the grip force of the gripper, allowing for better control and manipulation of objects. In this study, the Aerosol Jet Printing technique is used for the printing of conductive silver ink. The optimal printing condition is first being investigated through a series of experiments before the actual capacitive sensor design is printed. The performance of the sensor is then evaluated, with the emphasis on its sensitivity and repeatability. It is found that the sensor can detect different objects with different dielectric properties and is capable of withstanding at least 100 cycles of cyclic testing without significant degradation of performance. Overall, this study shows the potential of fabricating a capacitive sensor to detect different objects, which can then be used to calibrate the gripping force in smart grippers.