Mechanisms for Robotic Grasping and Manipulation

This article reviews the literature on the design of robotic mechanical grippers, with a focus on the mechanical aspects, which are believed to be the main bottleneck for effective designs. Our discussion includes gripper architectures and means of actuation, anthropomorphism and grasp planning, and robotic manipulation, emphasizing the complementary concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic dexterity. We also consider interactions of robotic grippers with the environment and with the objects to be grasped and argue that the proper handling of such interactions is key to the development of grasping and manipulation tools and scenarios. Finally, we briefly present examples of recent designs to support the discussion.