Using the method of analogies in designing an adaptive grippers

The article is devoted to solving the problems of designing adaptive grippers of industrial robots or manipulators for transporting explosive objects that can be installed on mobile platforms. It is proposed to use the method of analogies when designing structures of adaptive grippers. As analogues of adaptive grippers, it is proposed to use the constructions and operating principles of vices with different configurations of jaws, with the possibility of adapting the kinematic structure of the latter to the geometry of the surfaces of the object to be gripped. The article provides an analysis of the evolution of vise designs from the beginning of their emergence. Special attention has been paid to fractal vices as an analogue of adaptive grippers of industrial robots or manipulators. Using the results of the analysis of the operating principle of the device of the Austrian engineer Paulin Karl Kunze (US Patent: 1,059,545 – Device for obtaining intimate contact with, engaging or clamping bodies of any shape) and the excellent advantages of the latter in terms of universality of gripping parts on curved surfaces, the possibility of designing a whole range of new original designs of adaptive grippers of industrial robots or manipulators for transporting explosives that can be installed on mobile platforms. The given technique makes it possible to systematically cover not only the designs of adaptive grippers already in production, but also to find those whose creation is possible and, in some cases, even expedient. Based on the use of this technique, several new designs of adaptive grippers for industrial robots or manipulators are proposed. These designs require further in-depth research.