Synergizing Morphological Computation and Generative Design: Automatic Synthesis of Tendon-Driven Grippers

The design process of robotic systems is a complex journey that involves multiple phases. Throughout this process, the aim is to tackle various criteria simultaneously, even though they often contradict each other. The ultimate goal is to uncover the optimal solution that resolves these conflicting factors. Within this paper we propose a design methodology to generate linkage mechanisms for robots with morphological computation. We use a graph grammar and a heuristic search algorithm to create robot mechanism graphs that are converted into simulation models for testing the design output. To verify the design methodology we have applied it to a relatively simple quasi-static problem of object grasping. Designing a fully actuated gripper may seem simple, but we found a way to automatically design an underactuated tendon-driven gripper that can grasp a wide range of objects. This is possible because of its structure, not because of sophisticated planning or learning. To test the applicability of the proposed method in real engineering practice, we used it to create physical prototypes. Simulation results together with results of testing of physical prototypes are given at the end of the paper. The framework is open source and the link to GitHub is given in the paper.