Design and fabrication of a pneumatic soft robotic gripper for delicate surgical manipulation

Abstract

Soft compliant gripping is a promising way to protect soft tissues from the grip damage caused by the high stress points in delicate surgical manipulation. In this paper, a new soft robotic gripper is designed to minimize the risk of soft tissues damage due to the over-gripping force generated by the conventional forceps. This new soft robotic gripper consists of a 3D-printed hook retractor shell, a soft inflatable actuator and two small rods. The ability of compliant grip is achieved by the inflated soft pneumatic actuator. Two small rods are used to separate the inflatable actuator into three-fingers-like bloats which can firmly grip the soft tissues by multi-contacts between the tissues and the gripper when the air pressure is applied to the pneumatic channel. In addition, it can protect the tissues against the harmful contacts with the rigid shell. The hook structure allows scooping-up motion during delicate surgical manipulation. The gripping tests and pulling force sensing experiments are carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed soft robotic gripper.