A Gecko-Inspired Gripper with Controllable Adhesion

Wang, Zhongyuan; Liu, Xiaoyi; Zheng, Mohong; Zhang, Fangfang; Zhang, Qi; Wang, Xiuwan; Gorb, Stanislav N.; Zhang, Dai

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97589-4_10

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Controllable adhesives (i.e., those capable of being turned on and off) are used in a wide range of applications including robotic grippers, − climbing robots, − and perching drones . Electromagnets, suction, and microspines have been used to meet this demand but are typically limited to a specific substrate roughness or material.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Material Properties for Practical Microstructured Adhesives: Low Dust Adhesion and High Shear Strength

Alizadehyazdi

Simaite

Spenko

2019

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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The development of microstructure (gecko-like) adhesives has focused almost solely on their adhesive strength. However, for practical applications, especially in real-world environments, the adhesive’s long-term performance is arguably equally important. One impediment to long-term viability is the adhesive’s susceptibility to contamination. It is a challenge to develop an adhesive that can both adhere to a substrate while not becoming contaminated with dust and debris. In response, this paper experimentally explores the effect of modulus of elasticity, work of separation, and work of adhesion (adhesion energy) on the shear stress and particle detachment capabilities of wedge-shaped, directional microstructured adhesives. Particle removal is evaluated using both noncontact cleaning methods (centripetal force and electrostatic particle repulsion) and a dry contact cleaning method (load-drag-unload test). Results show that for a material with a high work of separation, high elastic modulus, and low work of adhesion, it is possible to create a microstructured adhesive with both high shear stress strength and low adhesion to dust particles. Results also show that, for dry contact cleaning, shear stress recovery mostly stems from particle rolling and not particle sliding. Moreover, shear test results show that augmenting the microstructured adhesive with electrostatic adhesion can reduce the negative effects on adhesion of a high elastic modulus materials’ conformability to a substrate by providing a preload to the microstructured elements. Last, this paper is the first to report on a electrostatic/gecko-like adhesive that uses its electrostatic elements for both adhesion and dust repulsion; they were reported separately before.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Material Properties for Practical Microstructured Adhesives: Low Dust Adhesion and High Shear Strength

Alizadehyazdi

Simaite

Spenko

2019

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…Prior to investigations into space applications, there have been numerous robotic grippers, climbing robots, and perching robots that have utilized gecko-inspired adhesives and provided the foundation for the work. [42,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58] The first work applying gecko-like adhesives to space operations focused on evaluating the adhesive's ability to adhere to common space materials, such as solar panels, thermal blankets, composites, and painted panels, for orbital debris capture. [59] The article demonstrated one of the first grippers to use gecko-like adhesives; most of the prior work centered on climbing or perching robots.…”

Section: Engineered Gecko-like Adhesives In Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Making Contact: A Review of Robotic Attachment Mechanisms for Extraterrestrial Applications

Spenko

2021

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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For many applications, mobile robots must adhere to, grasp, or otherwise attach to external objects to manipulate or anchor to them. In space applications, these actions may take place during satellite grappling, orbital debris capture, perching, or sample extraction. In many of these cases, specialized attachment mechanisms have been proposed because of the unique challenges found in the space environment. Namely, many attachment mechanism technologies that work on Earth are not viable in space. For example, electromagnetism requires ferromagnetic materials, which are not commonly found in space structures; suction does not work because of a lack of an atmosphere; and pressure sensitive adhesives, such as tape, outgas in a vacuum. Instead, there are numerous other technologies that, for a variety of reasons, are more attuned to the space environment. This article presents a review of such technologies with a focus on bio-inspired fibrillar controllable adhesives (i.e., gecko-like, microstructured, or dry adhesives), electrostatic adhesives, and microspines.The article is organized as follows. Section 2 provides an overview of potential robotic applications in the space environment. Potential is key in this instancemost of the technologies described in this article are mature and have been tested thoroughly in simulated space environments, but the leap from experiments to deployment in real missions has yet to occur at scale or even at all. Reasons for this will be discussed throughout the article and in Section 6, which looks at future challenges in this field. Prior to that, Section 3 reviews gecko-like adhesives, and electrostatic adhesion is addressed in Section 4 followed by microspines in Section 5. Applications OverviewThis section details four applications for robotic attachment mechanisms in space and extraterrestrial use: 1) satellite and orbital debris capture, 2) perching drones for astronaut assistance and monitoring, 3) anchoring on asteroids and other rocky surfaces, and 4) climbing for planetary exploration.Following it are three sections that elaborate on the technologies. Satellite and Orbital Debris CaptureDue to the exorbitant cost of launching a satellite, it may be economically advantageous to capture and service satellites that have malfunctioned or are otherwise in need of repair. [1] This concept, that it could be more cost and time efficient to repair, refuel, and otherwise service satellites in space as opposed to launching a new satellite, has seen significant traction recently. [2] In addition, orbital debris is already an issue as there are an estimated 34 000 pieces larger than 20 cm in low Earth orbit that pose significant danger to operational satellites, [3,4] even those that use physical protection. [5] There have been several examples of satellites being lost to or suspected of being lost to orbital debris. [6] Furthermore, there have been at least 16 maneuvers,

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A Sensorized Soft Robotic Hand with Adhesive Fingertips for Multimode Grasping and Manipulation

Park,

et al. 2024

Soft Robotics

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A Gecko-Inspired Gripper with Controllable Adhesion

Cited by 4 publications

References 16 publications

Evaluation of Material Properties for Practical Microstructured Adhesives: Low Dust Adhesion and High Shear Strength

Evaluation of Material Properties for Practical Microstructured Adhesives: Low Dust Adhesion and High Shear Strength

Making Contact: A Review of Robotic Attachment Mechanisms for Extraterrestrial Applications

A Sensorized Soft Robotic Hand with Adhesive Fingertips for Multimode Grasping and Manipulation

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