Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Universal Robot Gripper”.
Today, i’m going to show you how you can make a robotic gripper using an ordinary balloon and coffee grounds. It works because of a principle called jamming when a granular material such as coffee is compressed. It becomes very rigid. Friction between the individual grains, effectively locks them in place when the balloon is pressurized. The coffee grounds will move easily around an object and take its shape, but when you suck the air out of the balloon, the grounds tighten together and grip. The object this kind of gripper lets you pick up a wide variety of shapes to build one. The first thing that you need to do is fill the balloon with coffee.
To do this, i attached the balloon to a small tube and poured coffee grounds into the other end, with a funnel in between each scoop of coffee, i partially inflated the balloon so that the grounds could settle to the bottom continue adding coffee until the balloon is About the size of a baseball, then take the funnel and cut the end so that it only sticks out about a half. An inch now insert the neck of the balloon through the funnel and attach it to the other side. Secure it in place with thin strips of duct tape. Next apply a thin piece of fabric over the end and tape that in place, this will help to keep the grounds inside the balloon.
Finally, we need to attach the funnel to an air hose. The easiest way to do this is to just hold the funnel up to the air hose and wrap them, both in a generous amount of tape. You want to make the seal as airtight as possible, then just hook up the hose to an air pump to pick up an object first partially inflate the balloon, then press the balloon onto the object. Now, when you suck the air out of the balloon, it will grip the object from all sides.
This kind of amorphous gripper is extremely versatile. So why not make one for your robot thanks for watching and check back soon for more diy hacks and how to’s .