Development of a Modular Cost-Effective Retrofit Force-Sensitive Gripper

Sensitive gripping is one of the advanced empowering technologies in modern robotics that can benefit multiple domains. This paper explores the development of a modular sensitive gripping technology for handling Printed Circuit Board (PCB) boards at 6G Terafactory using a novel flexible pressure tactile sensor called Touchdetect Sensor developed by PowerOn GmbH. The flexible Touchdetect sensor is fabricated from a three-layer, 26 x 26mm ELASTOSIL silicon film with a 5x5 cell array called a taxel, changing capacitance when pressure is applied. Using this working principle, the modular setup is controlled using an Arduino microcontroller. It communicates with any robot’s controller through the MODBUS communication protocol and can be fixed to any hard gripper finger to make it a force-sensitive gripper. In this paper, the modular sensor setup was tested with a Universal Robot’s e-series UR 5e robot and an IGUS DP5 robot. In the paradigm of soft robotics, the modular sensor setup was also tested with a silicon-based Fluid-Mechanical Compliant Actuators (FCA) demonstrating the flexibility of the Touchdetect sensor. Leveraging a well-established communication protocol for seamless data exchange with any robot controller, this cost-effective modular sensor setup transforms traditional hard grippers into force-sensitive grippers capable of handling delicate objects.