Design of a Dual Finger 3D Printed Gripper with a Low Cost ToF-based Force Sensor

Mutinda, Bryan and Manolescu, Vasile Denis and Secco, Emanuele Lindo (2024) Design of a Dual Finger 3D Printed Gripper with a Low Cost ToF-based Force Sensor. Academia Engineering. ISSN 2994-7065 (Accepted for Publication)

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Abstract

This study examined the use of a low-cost Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor to measure forces on a robotic gripper. A novel dual low-cost Gripper with changeable Fingers was designed, and 3D printed. The gripper design was combined with a set of low-cost springs and the ToF sensor. Following a calibration procedure of the elastic means, the gripper leverages on the linear elasticity of the springs to convert the ToF estimated displacement into a force measurement. Calibration was performed with a 6 Degrees of Freedom (DoF) IIT FT17S/T miniature force sensor. An Arduino Uno embedded controller was used in order to design an end-user interface between the robotic gripper and the operator: a keypad allowed the setting of specific gripping forces and the readings of the fingers’ displacement on the Arduino serial monitor. An OLCD external display was also implemented in order to improve the end-user experience.
This study showed that low-cost systems can be used in order to design, manufacture and integrate robotic devices: the precision and accuracy of such a solution has been discussed with consideration on how to improve the design through the integration of an OLED 128 x 64-pixel SSD1306.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > Mathematics and Computer Science
Depositing User:	Emanuele Secco
Date Deposited:	16 Sep 2024 10:43
Last Modified:	16 Sep 2024 10:43
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4367

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