A Novel Reconfigurable Modular Gripper for In-Hand Object Manipulation and Release With Appropriate Posture

In-hand manipulation is a frequently demanded task which requires a significant dexterity from grippers. Operations such as object twisting, re-grasping and re-positioning with correct posture after manipulation are the major industrial challenges. Such requiring also determine design complexity of grippers. This paper proposes a new modular two DOF finger which is capable to do manipulation such as twist object about two independent axes when used in modular assembled configuration. Multiple identical fingers of such type can be used to build the gripper whose primary purposes are solving manipulation and after manipulation requirements such as regrasp and release object with appropriate posture. The fingers are implemented in the gripper by means of a properly conceived mechanism to ensure the mobility needed for grasping. In this research, the manipulation capabilities of the gripper developed by such identical fingers is investigated by the means of simulation in a multibody simulated environment. Moreover, a prototype of one finger has been built for preliminary inspection of the modular entity which represents the constructive base of the gripper concept object of this study.