Adaptive (Underactuated) Gripper

A gripper with fewer motors than joints, whose fingers automatically conform to an object's shape.

An adaptive gripper is an underactuated design: it has fewer actuators than joints, and uses linkages, springs, or tendons to split one motor's force across multiple finger segments. Once a finger touches an object, any segment that isn't blocked keeps curling, automatically wrapping around the object without needing each joint controlled individually. This lets it both pinch in parallel like an ordinary two-finger gripper and perform enveloping grasps on cylindrical or irregular objects, all with simple control, low cost, and high tolerance for error. The trade-off is that finger-segment poses can't be controlled precisely, so it can't do in-hand manipulation. The Robotiq 2F-85 is one of the most common adaptive grippers in both research and industry.

ExampleThe Robotiq 2F-85 uses just one motor, yet can both pinch up a thin, flat part in parallel and let its segments curl to envelop a cup.

Also called

Underactuated Gripper

Related

Gripper · Underactuation · Robotiq 2F-85 Gripper · Parallel Jaw Gripper · Fin Ray Gripper · Soft Gripper

Sources

Underactuation - Wikipedia