Jamming grippers with stencil moldings
AssigneeAurora Flight Sciences Corporation
InventorsDaniel Hurwit, William Bosworth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A robot system having a robot with a jamming gripper is disclosed. The jamming gripper may comprise granular material within a deformable membrane configured to phase transition between a malleable state and a rigid state upon modification of its internal pressure. The phase transition of the gripper may allow the robot to engage and/or grasp a target object by conforming to the shape of the target object while in its malleable state, then transitioning to its rigid state in order to firmly grasp the object. In some situations, the robot may be configured to select and/or engage a stencil before engaging the target object, so as to pre-shape the gripper before engagement with the target object.
Claims20
A robot system for grasping a target object, the robot system comprising:
- a robot equipped with an appendage having a gripper, wherein the gripper includes a pressure control port;
- a pressure regulator fluidly coupled to the gripper via the pressure control port, wherein the pressure regulator is configured to modify an internal pressure of the gripper, so as to phase transition the gripper between a malleable state and a rigid state;
- a plurality of molds to which the gripper may conform when in a malleable state, so as to define a desired rigid form for the gripper;
- and
- a sensor to determine at least one characteristic of the target object, wherein the robot is configured to select a desired mold from the plurality of molds based at least in part on the at least one characteristic of the target object.
A method of grasping a target object via a gripper that is in communication with a pressure regulator, wherein the gripper comprises a deformable membrane configured to phase transition between a malleable state and a rigid state as a function of pressure imparted by the pressure regulator, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining at least one characteristic of the target object via a sensor;
- selecting a desired mold from a plurality of molds based at least in part on the at least one characteristic;
- maneuvering the gripper into contact with the desired mold while the gripper is in a malleable state, wherein the desired mold corresponds at least in part to a shape of the target object;
- transitioning the gripper from the malleable state to the rigid state, such that the gripper conforms to a shape of the desired mold;
- maneuvering the gripper out of contact with the desired mold while the gripper is in the rigid state;
- and
- manipulating the target object with the gripper while the gripper is in the rigid state.
A robot system for grasping a target object, the robot system comprising:
- a robot equipped with an appendage having a gripper;
- a pressure regulator fluidly coupled to the gripper via a pressure control port, wherein the pressure regulator is configured to modify an internal pressure of the gripper, so as to phase transition the gripper between a malleable state and a rigid state;
- and
- a dynamic mold to which the gripper may conform when in a malleable state, so as to define a desired rigid form for the gripper, wherein the dynamic mold is configured to change shape to approximate a shape of the target object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.