2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

In-hand manipulation with universal jamming gripper

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	21H03524
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 61050:Intelligent robotics-related
Research Institution	Kobe City College of Technology
Principal Investigator	SHIMIZU Toshihiko 神戸市立工業高等専門学校, その他部局等, 准教授 (30725825)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	池本周平九州工業大学, 大学院生命体工学研究科, 准教授 (00588353)
Project Period (FY)	2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
Keywords	In-hand Manipulation / Jamming / robot hand / Granular material / soft robotics
Outline of Final Research Achievements	In this study, in-hand manipulation with a universal gripper is investigated to realize super-multiple objects handling, ranging from primitive shapes to tool-like objects. This research is based on a simple configuration using only powder and a elastomatic membrane to measure and control the position and orientation of the object by measuring and controlling the micro-powder's distribution. First, we measured the pressure distribution using a mixed powders. We also demonstrated that the system can achive tactile sensation by using Sinogram to acquire high resolutional pressure distribution. We also developed a two-layered gripper that focuses on the low permeability of micro-powders and realized flexible and rigid distribution control by controlling the pressure distribution, and showed that in-hand manipulation is possible by the simple configuration with powder and membrane.
Free Research Field	ロボティクス
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	ピックアンドプレースはロボットの基本的作業であり，すなわち人間の基本的作業でもある．従前のグリッパでは複数の素材を組み合わせることで物体の姿勢を計測・制御することを実現してきたが，本研究では，粉体と膜袋のみを用いたシンプルな構成で，これを実現した，という点に学術的独自性がある．また少子高齢化により働き手の減少する本邦において，労働力の確保という観点から，多品種の把持搬送を自動化することは喫緊の課題といえる．本グリッパはシンプルな構成であるため，導入コストについても複数の素材を用いる場合と比較して有利となる．加えて，インハンドマニピュレーションを実現する本研究は産業に寄与する研究となる．