The WaveJoints: A Novel Methodology to Design Soft-Rigid Grippers Made by Monolithic 3D Printed Fingers with Adjustable Joint Stiffness

In this paper, we present a methodology to design soft-rigid grippers able to perform different manipulation tasks. The main idea is the introduction of wave-shaped hinges whose geometrical parameters can be designed to achieve different three-dimensional impedance characteristics. This allows one to use the same tendon-driven actuation to perform different tasks including grasping objects with different shapes and in-hand manipulation of small objects. We report all design procedures and an experimental evaluation of two different prototypes exploiting two possible tasks, the first one is designed to grasp objects adapting to different shapes and dimensions, the second one performs an in-hand manipulation task consisting in object rotation with respect to an axis perpendicular to hand palm, resembling a "screw" movement. Obtained results confirm the feasibility and potentialities of the proposed methodology, that can be applied to obtain 3D printed monolithic fingers able to move in predefined directions when activated through a tendon-driven system, paving the way toward a new task-specific realization of compliant grippers.