With a brief squeeze , you know whether an avocado , peach , or Lycopersicon esculentum is ripe . This is what a gentle golem hand also does , for deterrent example , during automated harvesting . However , up until now , such a gripper needed sensors in its ' finger ' to determine whether the fruit was ripe enough . Shibo Zou and Bas Overvelde from the AMOLF Soft Robotic Matter Group have developed an external method to value the interaction of soft golem with their environment that does not require establish - in detector . Furthermore , the proficiency can be easily applied to a grasp of existing indulgent golem . The research was published on January 15 , 2024 , in the scientific journalNature Communications .
" How can we enable indulgent golem to feel something without the demand for built - in detector ? We can now do that by externally measuring the pressure , " explain Bas Overvelde . Together with researcher Shibo Zou from his mathematical group and researcher from Eindhoven University of Technology , he developed a system to externally measure how soft robot digit react to interactions with the surroundings .
The researchers do that by valuate the air pressure level required to move the golem ’s fingers . That is because the fingers grip something by being blown up like a balloon . If they encounter something during the transfix process , it involve more force to burn out them up , just like it take you more effort to blow up a balloon if you squeeze it at the same time . The amount of spare military group take is something that can be measured externally , which mean that detector are no longer necessitate in the robot fingers .
One of the sonant grippers adapted by the researchers can pluck tomatoes . The golem grip a tomato with four gentle finger and then plucks it by rotating it . By assess the force per unit area during the transfix appendage , the golem know whether it is holding the tomato properly . The robot arm can also sort tomato plant . In the case of an overripe tomato , the arrangement measures less air pressure than for a ripe tomato plant and , as a result , frame the overripe love apple aside .
Widely applicableAll of these decision and actions are determined by the pressure regulator that the researchers developed . Thanks to this external gimmick , the digit no longer want sensors . Overvelde explicate : " Sensors are operose , and that is not ideal for subdued automaton fingers . Moreover , for each app , you ask to build up young sensors that must also be suitable for usage in food or medical applications , for example . We have developed a plug - and - play ( retrofit ) system and demonstrated that it can be used on a extensive mountain chain of soft robots without the need for many adjustments . " pick tomatoes is just one software program .
For more information : AMOLF Soft Robotic Matter GroupP.O. Box 41883 , 1009 DBAmsterdam , the NetherlandsTel . : +31 ( 0)20 754 7100Fax : +31 ( 0)20 754 7290Email:[email protected ]
