A Single-Actuator Gripper with a Working Mode Switching Mechanism for Grasping and Rolling Manipulation

This paper presents a three-fingered gripper with a working mode switching mechanism for both grasping and rolling manipulation tasks, actuated by only one motor. A newly proposed Continuum Differential Mechanism (CDM) was utilized with an underactuated finger design to generate adaptive grasps. A switching mechanism was designed to change the gripper's working mode between grasping and rolling manipulation under the actuation of the same motor. Besides being expected to grasp various objects, the gripper can roll grasped objects with its two fingers, utilizing the CDM's elasticity, in the rolling manipulation mode. Experimental results verified that the gripper can adaptively grasp various objects in the grasping mode and can also perform in-hand rolling tasks using two of its fingers in the manipulation mode, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed idea.