CurviPicker: a continuum robot for pick-and-place tasks

Abstract

Purpose Pick-and-place tasks are common across many industrial sectors, and many rigid-linked robots have been proposed for this application. This paper aims to alternatively present the development of a continuum robot for low-load medium-speed pick-and-place tasks. Design/methodology/approach An inversion of a previously proposed dual continuum mechanism, as a key design element, was used to realize the horizontal movements of the CurviPicker’s end effector. A flexible shaft was inserted to realize rotation and translation about a vertical axis. The design concept, kinematics, system descriptions and proof-of-concept experimental characterizations are elaborated. Findings Experimental characterizations show that the CurviPicker can achieve satisfactory accuracy after motion calibration. The CurviPicker is easy to control due to its simple kinematics, while its structural compliance makes it safe to work with, as well as less sensitive to possible target picking position errors to avoid damaging itself or the to-be-picked objects. Research limitations/implications The vertical translation of the CurviPicker is currently realized by moving the flexible shaft. Insertion of the flexible shaft introduces possible disturbances. It is desired to explore other form of variations to use structural deformation to realize the vertical translation. Practical implications The proposed CurviPicker realizes the Schöenflies motions via a simple structure. Such a robot can be used to increase robot presence and automation in small businesses for low-load medium-speed pick-and-place tasks. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the CurviPicker is the first continuum robot designed and constructed for pick-and-place tasks. The originality stems from the concept, kinematics, development and proof-of-concept experimental characterizations of the CurviPicker.

Robot Design and Modeling for Enclosed Area Assembly

“…As precise control has become cheaper and more accessible, tendon driven continuum robots have become more common [16]. These robots have greater advantages, allowing the arms to become more slender, and introducing greater feedback control [19].…”

A Novel Gripper with Integrated Rotary Unit and Force Control for Pick and Place Applications

“…In the mechanism the Driver's gear plays the role of a driver and the Cone gear becomes the sun, which is connected with the satellite, implemented by Sector gear and connected to the Finger's gear. Thus, the dependency between angular accelerations and velocities of the gripper's parts can be expressed by Equations ( 5) and (6).…”

“…Pick and Place operations are frequently used in different industrial applications [1,2], especially in the food industry [3,4]. Typically Pick and Place operations are implemented using SCARA or Delta robots with four degrees of freedom: three transnational degree and one rotation around a vertical axis [5,6]. Another feature of these operations is their high speed: for example, Delta robots are designed to perform up to 150 Pick and Place operations per minute [7].…”