Soft robotic grippers for cluttered grasping environments, high acceleration movements, food manipulation, and automated storage and retrieval systems

A soft robotic system comprising:

• an arm distal end;
• a gripper comprising two or more soft robotic actuators, wherein each soft robotic actuator is inflatable with an inflation fluid and operative to exert a force in a radial direction along an inner circumferential edge of the actuator;
• an extension rod comprising a gripper end affixed to the gripper and a second end affixed to the arm distal end, the extension rod having a width that is less than a width of the arm distal end;
• a non-manual pneumatic, mechanical, or hydraulic adjustment device configured to adjust a distance between the gripper and the arm distal end by extending or retracting the extension rod;
• and
• a controller programmed with logic stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the logic comprising instructions for:
• approaching a container with gripper oriented at a first angle with respect to a bottom of the container, the container comprising one or more walls;
• at least partially disposing the gripper within the walls of the container;
• after the gripper is at least partially disposed within the walls of the container, reorienting the gripper to a second angle less steep as compared to the first angle;
• and
• grasping a target object within the container with the gripper oriented at the second angle.