Self-Regulated Self-Healing Robotic Gripper for Resilient and Adaptive Grasping

Abstract

Flexible, soft materials are increasingly used for the fabrication of soft robots, as the inherent compliance and shock-absorbance protect the robot from mechanical impact. Soft universal grippers take full advantage of this adaptability, facilitating effective and safe grasping of various objects. However, due to their predominantly soft material composition, these grippers have limited lifetimes, especially when operating in unstructured and unfamiliar environments. The self-healing universal gripper (SHUG) is proposed, which can grasp various objects and recover from substantial realistic damages autonomously. It integrates damage detection, heat-assisted healing, and healing evaluation. Notably, unlike other universal grippers, the entire SHUG can be fully reprocessed and recycled. The gripper's functionality relies on the particle jamming of steel balls enclosed within a self-healing membrane. Thanks to the thermoreversible covalent Diels-Alder bonds in self-healing polymer membrane, the gripper is able to recover from macroscopic damages including scratches and punctures. Temperature-assisted healing is regulated in a closed-loop manner using an embedded thermocouple and Joule heater. Experimental validation demonstrates the adaptability, resilience, and recyclability of the SHUG.