Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Carnegie Mellon University

Nikhil Chavan Dafle

Alberto Rodriguez Garcia

Rachel Holladay

Matthew T Mason

Kyubin Lee

Neel Doshi

Ian Hernand Taylor

A robotic gripper may be configured to dexterously manipulate an article. The robotic gripper may include two or more fingers containing one or more rotatable contacts each. The rotatable contact may transition between a rotation mode and a braking mode such that the contacts are free to rotate in the rotation mode and are prevented from being rotated in the braking mode. In some instances, the robotic gripper may make contact with the article via the contact pads. Thus, the robotic gripper may dexterously manipulate the article via the contact pads and brake.

Robotic grippers

Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for adjusting a grip on an object held by a gripper of a robotic system. The gripper manipulates the object to bring a portion of the object into contact with a supporting surface underlying the object, and the gripper undergoes one or more displacements relative the object to apply frictional pushes to the object while the object is held stationary against the supporting surface. The gripper maintains contact with the object during the one or more displacements, and the one or more displacements are at least partially directed towards the supporting surface. According to some aspects, such manipulation strategies provide a functionality of fixturing an object for regripping without requiring customized fixture hardware.

Robotic manipulation of objects for grip adjustment

Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for manipulating the position and/or orientation of an object while it is held in a robotic gripper. In one such embodiment, one or more physically possible and stable displacements for moving an object relative to a gripper using one or more frictional pushes may be determined and applied to the object to move the object from a first position and orientation to a second position and orientation while the object is held by the gripper. In certain embodiments, the physically possible and stable displacements may be determined using an appropriate motion cone approximation.

Robotic manipulation of objects using external contacts

Shape-shifting fingers may enable parallel-jaw gripper to re-grasp objects. In some embodiments, a gripper includes two fingers each having a flexible membrane which is moveable between an extended state and a retracted state in response to pressure applied to a cavity at least partially formed by the membrane. In the extended and retracted state the shape of the flexible membrane may change based on the pressure and/or a force applied to the membrane and may attain two distinct geometric forms to facilitate distinct manipulation functionalities. In some embodiments, the flexible membrane switches between a wedge-shaped geometry in the extended state and a V-shaped geometry in the retracted state. The wedge-shaped geometry may provide a point contact on a cylindrical object so that the object may pivot to a vertical position under the effect of gravity. The V-shaped geometry may localize the object in a vertical position and securely hold it.

Shape-shifting fingers for robotic grippers

Two-phase gripper. The gripper reorients and grasps an object while being picked up. The gripper includes a parallel jaw gripper including a pair of opposed, two-phase fingers, each finger including a cavity covered by an elastic strip wherein the elastic strip includes a point contact. Closure of the jaws of the gripper on an object at a first relatively lower force results in contact with lower friction between the point contact on the elastic strip on the fingers and the object allowing the object to rotate under gravity as the gripper is raised. Thereafter, closure of the jaws of the gripper on the object at a second relatively higher force causes the elastic strip to receded into the cavity resulting in multi-point contact with higher friction between the fingers and the object to securely grasp the object. In a preferred embodiment, the cavity is a Y-shaped groove and the object is cylindrical or prismatic.

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Nikhil Chavan Dafle