A Cross-Embodiment Gripper Benchmark for Rigid-Object Manipulation in Aerial and Industrial Robotics

Abstract

Robotic grippers are increasingly deployed across industrial, collaborative, and aerial platforms, where each embodiment imposes distinct mechanical, energetic, and operational constraints. Established YCB and NIST benchmarks quantify grasp success, force, or timing on a single platform, but do not evaluate cross-embodiment transferability or energy-aware performance – essential for modern mobile and aerial manipulation. This letter introduces the Cross-Embodiment Gripper Benchmark (CEGB), a reproducible benchmarking suite extending YCB and selected NIST metrics with three additional components: a transfer-time benchmark measuring embodiment exchange effort, an energy-consumption benchmark evaluating grasping and holding efficiency, and an intent-specific ideal payload assessment. Together, these metrics characterize grasp performance and cross-platform suitability. CEGB is validated on two mechanically distinct grippers. The experimental evaluation quantifies embodiment-dependent differences in transfer time, energetic efficiency, and operational capability under unified statistical reporting. CEGB provides a reproducible foundation for cross-platform, energy-aware gripper evaluation.