Analysis for Material Selection of Robot Soft Finger Used for Power Grasping

The geometric relationship between contact parameters such as deformation, contact area and touch angle of robot soft finger is developed. The suggested nonlinear cylindrical soft finger deforms on the application of normal load and contact surface and touches angle grow correspondingly. The force relationship between contact parameters and geometrical data is derived. The developed theoretical model enables to determine the total contact force at the contact surface manipulation. The theoretical model is validated by conducting experiments with the artificial finger of hyperelastic material (Silicone Ecoflex 00-30). The contact width is measured by conducting compression testing from 10 N to 100 N with an increment of 10 N on silicone finger to leave a vivid print on recording paper, and contact area is calculated from those data. The importance of coefficient of friction cannot be overlooked. The value of coefficient of friction is also calculated from inclined test result. The developed model and soft finger can be used for tackling real-life problems related to object manipulations.