Development of the Gripper for the handwheel and the knob

Abstract

It is difficult for human beings to enter the dangerous terrain and to work there. In those places, robots work better than human beings do. To move into the place, the robots should have the appropriate gripper to unlock the door inside. In this paper, we have developed a robotic gripper that is able to hold a handwheel and a knob. This gripper is one degree of freedom system and compact design using lead screws but it has two motions such as the translational motion and the modified hyperbolic motion. Since the linkage of gripper has the translational motion in the axial direction, the gripper has much force than other grippers which are operated rotational direction. We have analyzed the geometric properties of the gripper to determine the optimal dimensions of the gripper link. Then, we present experimental results of sleeplessly opening doors with two handle types, such as a handwheel and a knob, using our novel gripper.