Soft Rigid Hybrid Gripper with Inflatable Silicone Pockets for Tunable Frictional Grasping

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ly, Hoang Hiep, Nguyen, Cong-Nhat, Tran, Doan-Quang, Dang, Quoc-Khanh, Tran, Ngoc Duy, Mac, Thi Thoa, Nguyen, Anh, Nguyen, Xuan-Thuan, Ta, Tung D.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866911495931035648
author Ly, Hoang Hiep
Nguyen, Cong-Nhat
Tran, Doan-Quang
Dang, Quoc-Khanh
Tran, Ngoc Duy
Mac, Thi Thoa
Nguyen, Anh
Nguyen, Xuan-Thuan
Ta, Tung D.
author_facet Ly, Hoang Hiep
Nguyen, Cong-Nhat
Tran, Doan-Quang
Dang, Quoc-Khanh
Tran, Ngoc Duy
Mac, Thi Thoa
Nguyen, Anh
Nguyen, Xuan-Thuan
Ta, Tung D.
contents Grasping objects with diverse mechanical properties, such as heavy, slippery, or fragile items, remains a significant challenge in robotics. Conventional rigid grippers typically rely on increasing the normal forces to secure an object, however, this can cause damage to fragile objects due to excessive force. To address this limitation, we propose a soft rigid hybrid gripper finger that combines rigid structural shells with soft, inflatable silicone pockets, which could be integrated into a conventional gripper. The hybrid gripper can actively modulate its surface friction by varying the internal air pressure of the silicone pockets, enabling the gripper to securely grasp objects without increasing the gripping force. This is demonstrated by fundamental experimental results, in which an increase in internal pressure leads to a proportional increase in the effective coefficient of friction. The gripping experiments also show that the integrated gripper can stably lift heavy and slippery objects or fragile, deformable objects, such as eggs, tofu, fruits, and paper cups, with minimal damage by increasing friction rather than applying high force.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_07308
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Soft Rigid Hybrid Gripper with Inflatable Silicone Pockets for Tunable Frictional Grasping
Ly, Hoang Hiep
Nguyen, Cong-Nhat
Tran, Doan-Quang
Dang, Quoc-Khanh
Tran, Ngoc Duy
Mac, Thi Thoa
Nguyen, Anh
Nguyen, Xuan-Thuan
Ta, Tung D.
Robotics
Grasping objects with diverse mechanical properties, such as heavy, slippery, or fragile items, remains a significant challenge in robotics. Conventional rigid grippers typically rely on increasing the normal forces to secure an object, however, this can cause damage to fragile objects due to excessive force. To address this limitation, we propose a soft rigid hybrid gripper finger that combines rigid structural shells with soft, inflatable silicone pockets, which could be integrated into a conventional gripper. The hybrid gripper can actively modulate its surface friction by varying the internal air pressure of the silicone pockets, enabling the gripper to securely grasp objects without increasing the gripping force. This is demonstrated by fundamental experimental results, in which an increase in internal pressure leads to a proportional increase in the effective coefficient of friction. The gripping experiments also show that the integrated gripper can stably lift heavy and slippery objects or fragile, deformable objects, such as eggs, tofu, fruits, and paper cups, with minimal damage by increasing friction rather than applying high force.
title Soft Rigid Hybrid Gripper with Inflatable Silicone Pockets for Tunable Frictional Grasping
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.07308