Gripper Experiments

[Pev]

Hi,

I have been experimenting with a very basic gripper made from very thin and flexible carbon fibre sheet. The reason for the flexibility was I wanted to test the "present load" capabilities of the AX-12 with regard to realising there was something to grip.

Attached is where I am to date, the gripper is designed to distort if excessive pressure is applied as I didn't want to strip the gears in my AX-12. It certainly seems to be viable to read the present load register and stop the gripper closing based on it.

http://robosavvy.com/Builders/Pev/Gripper1.wmv

Guess I need to build a better gripper now

Pev

[hivemind]

Awesome, that looks great. It is hard to see from the angle, but how thick is the finger on the immobile side? Are you planning to move to a hard sheet of carbon fiber now that you have ensured the load capabilities work?

Nice work.

[Pev]

Its is all pretty thin (0.2 mm) sheet but spaced with blocks so the immobile finger is a frame about about 14mm across.

I do plan to redesign the gripper and am debating whether to make it in carbon fibre sheet (1.5 mm thick) or to go with Aluminium....... time will tell.

A slightly better view of the heath-robinson gripper


http://robosavvy.com/Builders/Pev/Gripper.JPG

Pev

[Miamicanes]

If you decide to sell the first one after making your next one (just the parts you made, not the Bioloid parts or motor), let us know... I might be interested in buying it, and I suspect a few others here might, too