Suction grip idea · 18 January 06 by Jesse Crossen
Chuck had an idea to make a gripping surface with a variable softness. That way, a gripper could initially conform to an object, then harden as more force was applied. The idea is to fill a rubber sack with pellets and then suck the air out of it, pushing the pellets together so they can’t slide past each other easily. The more suction you put on the sack, the harder it becomes. He made a quick prototype from the finger of a dishwashing glove filled with dry sushi rice. Here’s a video of the finger with no suction, then with suction applied by a vacuum pump:
Video of the suction finger (2M)
We also tried filling it with sawdust and masonry powder with slightly different results. We intend to test hard rubber balls and textured or oddly shaped pellets as well. The bigger idea is making a gripper that can close and harden with suction.
