The 18th International Conference on Electrorheological Fluids and Magnetorheological Suspensions (ERMR 2023)

Among the existing types of soft grippers, spherical grippers that use a wrapping grasping method have good adaptability when gripping objects with different structures and shapes^[1–5]. This work combines the particle-blocking intelligent structure of a pneumatic spherical gripper with the magnetorheological (MR) effect of a magnetic control spherical gripper to develop a wrapping and forceful magnetic control spherical gripper for grabbing^[6–10]. In the optimization design of MR gel (MRG) for bladder filling material, adding carbon microspheres can improve the magnetic modulus change of the gripper^[11,12]. When the quality ratio of fluid, carbonyl iron particles, and carbon microspheres in MRG material is 3.4:5.1:1.4, the magnetic control spherical gripper performs best in terms of gripping efficiency. Additionally, the initial shape of the bladder is designed to be cylindrical to preserve the elasticity of the bladder membrane and enhance its wrapping ability. Ultimately, the optimized spherical gripper can grasp objects ranging from 20% to 130% of its diameter with a maximum grasping force of 25N. The highest grasping efficiency can reach up to 5.25 when grasping an object that is relative to half of the diameter of the bladder. Furthermore, even when objects are offset or placed at an angle or there is severe environmental vibration, the gripper can still stably grasp them. The enhanced magnetic field-powered spherical gripper exhibits superior adaptability and efficiency in gripping compared to its counterpart^[13–19]. Additionally, it boasts robust resistance against environmental interference.

Particle-blocking intelligent structure, Magneto-rheological effect, Magnetic rheological gel, Spherical gripper, Grasping efficiency