It has been a while since experts have been saying that robots could one day replace the roles of people in the working environment. For most people, this is worrying as it could reduce employment. For some other, this is remarkable as it would enhance the quality and speed of production. Although it has already been a topic for decades, it has not yet come to reality as current robotic technologies lack the varying firmness and pressure of human touch. This becomes important when handling delicate and fragile materials.
Recently, however, researchers from the University of Buffalo in New York, have designed a robotic hand, which prevents damage or breaking of fragile materials when handling them. UB associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Ehsan Esfahani explained how the robot's touch is like that of a human hand. "Our robotic gripper mimics the human hand's ability to adjust the stiffness of the grip. These grippers are designed for collaborative robots that work together with people," he said. "They're going to be helpers, so they need to be safe, and variable stiffness grippers help to achieve that goal."
Explained in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, the robot has two fingers that worked by absorbing energy from impact during collisions. This absorption mechanism prevents anything that the robot is holding from breaking, thus making it safer for the people working around it, as the researchers claim.
Conventional robotic hands have "fingers" that are fixed in place. What makes this robotic hand different is that its robotic fingers each have magnetic bases. Each magnetic base is placed between two neodymium magnets that act to repel the finger. This repulsive action would leave an air gap between the fingers, making the gap act like a spring-it would react when the fingers come in contact with an object or when they collide with an external force. The distance between these magnets would then dictate the firmness of the grip. This is demonstrated in the video below.
The researchers claim that this development could be used in assembly lines of automotive and electronic packaging industries. They also said that the robotic hand could be attached to currently available robotic hands in the market, like the one shown in the photo below. This would be a less expensive take for interested companies, instead of replacing existing equipment that they already have.
In a simple experiment, the researchers placed a short stick of raw spaghetti between the fingers of the robotic hand. As external force is applied, the device adjusted its position preventing spaghetti stick to break.
Esfahani plans to launch a startup company so that they can commercialize the product, with licensing from the university.
