Design of gripper skin based on trapezoidal interlocking and magnetorheological effect

Aimed at the problems of grippers struggling to adapt to irregular shapes and having insufficient grasping ability, reported here is a smart trapezoidal skin based on trapezoidal interlocking and magnetorheological stiffness. The skin has upper and lower trapezoidal interlocking structures made from a magnetorheological elastomer, and its internal cavity is filled with magnetorheological grease. During the grasping process, the elastomer trapezoidal structural units provide better support and interlocking, while the magnetorheological grease realizes rapid stiffness adjustment under a magnetic field. This design offers good adaptability to irregular shapes as well as enhanced grasping capability via trapezoidal interlocking and magnetically variable stiffness. Furthermore, introducing a liquid-metal resistive sensing layer enables the skin to detect the slip state of the object, and the magnetic field generated by an electromagnet controlled by a microcontroller increases the skin stiffness and improves the grasping performance. As reported here, the support and interlocking of trapezoidal structures and the magneto-variable stiffness of magnetorheological materials are used comprehensively to provide a new reference for the design of variable-stiffness grippers.