Flying Hydraulically Amplified Electrostatic Gripper System for Aerial Object Manipulation
Dario Tscholl, Stephan-Daniel Gravert, Aurel X. Appius, Robert K., Katzschmann

TL;DR
This paper introduces a bio-inspired, hydraulically amplified electrostatic gripper mounted on a quadcopter, demonstrating soft, safe, and energy-efficient aerial object manipulation for the first time.
Contribution
It presents a novel hybrid electrostatic actuator design inspired by biological systems, enabling soft manipulation in air with improved force output and robustness.
Findings
First demonstration of soft electrostatic manipulation in air
Hybrid actuator design achieves higher force under moderate deflections
Potential for untethered aerial robotic manipulation
Abstract
Rapid and versatile object manipulation in air is an open challenge. An energy-efficient and adaptive soft gripper combined with an agile aerial vehicle could revolutionize aerial robotic manipulation in areas such as warehousing. This paper presents a bio-inspired gripper powered by hydraulically amplified electrostatic actuators mounted to a quadcopter that can interact safely and naturally with its environment. Our gripping concept is motivated by an eagle's foot. Our custom multi-actuator concept is inspired by a scorpion tail design (consisting of a base electrode with pouches stacked adjacently) and spider-inspired joints (classic pouch motors with a flexible hinge layer). A hybrid of these two designs realizes a higher force output under moderate deflections of up to 25{\deg} compared to single-hinge concepts. In addition, sandwiching the hinge layer improves the robustness of…
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Taxonomy
TopicsModular Robots and Swarm Intelligence · Soft Robotics and Applications · Micro and Nano Robotics
