(February 1, 2016) Soft
electronics are changing the way robots can touch. EPFL Scientists have
developed a new soft robotic gripper -- made out of rubber and stretchable
electrodes -- that can bend and pick up delicate objects like eggs and paper,
taking robotics to a whole new level.
Have you ever rubbed a balloon in your hair to make it stick
to the wall? This electrostatic stickiness called electroadhesion may change
robotics forever.
EPFL scientists have invented a new soft gripper that uses
electroadhesion: flexible electrode flaps that act like a thumb-index gripper.
It can pick up fragile objects of arbitrary shape and stiffness, like an egg, a
water balloon or paper.
This lightweight gripper may soon be handling food for the
food industry, capturing debris in outer space or incorporated into prosthetic
hands. The research, which was funded by NCCR Robotics, is featured in Advanced
Materials.
"This is the first time that electroadhesion and soft
robotics have been combined together to grasp objects," says Jun Shintake,
doctoral student at EPFL and first author of the publication.
When the voltage is turned on, the electrodes bend towards
the object to be picked up, imitating muscle function. The tip of the
electrodes act like fingertips that gently conform to the shape of the object,
gripping onto it with electrostatic forces in the same way that the balloon
sticks to the wall. These electrodes can carry 80 times its own weight and no
prior knowledge about the object's shape is necessary.