Top: Highly compliant soft-bubble parallel gripper on a robot arm grasping an object. Bottom-left: In-hand pose estimate during this interaction; Bottom-right: Shear-induced displacements tracked on the interior of this sensor. Source: TRI
As part of its efforts toward a domestic robot, TRI has focused on improving robotic manipulation. Such grippers must be capable of stable grasps, precise placement, and safe interactions during inadvertent contact. They must also be low cost to be part of an affordable and commercially viable household robot. TRI said its engineers have designed a manipulator with all these capabilities called the Soft Bubble Gripper.
