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Soft Robotic Surface Enhances the Grasping Adaptability and

Reliability of Pneumatic Grippers

Wei Xiao , Chang Liu , Dean Hu , Gang Yang , Xu Han

PII: S0020-7403(22)00031-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2022.107094
Reference: MS 107094

To appear in: International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

Received date: 29 July 2021

Revised date: 14 January 2022
Accepted date: 17 January 2022

Please cite this article as: Wei Xiao , Chang Liu , Dean Hu , Gang Yang , Xu Han , Soft Robotic Sur-
face Enhances the Grasping Adaptability and Reliability of Pneumatic Grippers, International Journal
of Mechanical Sciences (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2022.107094

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© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Soft Robotic Surface Enhances the Grasping Adaptability and Reliability of
Pneumatic Grippers

Wei Xiao1, Chang Liu1, Dean Hu 1 *, Gang Yang 1 and Xu Han1, 2

1
Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Simulation Techniques for Special Equipments, Ministry of Education,
Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
2
School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, P. R. China
*
Corresponding author: hudean@hnu.edu.cn (Dean Hu)

Highlights (for review)

1. A soft gripper with enveloping and pinching grasp is developed inspired by Venus flytrap.
2. An analytical model of the soft robotic surface is established and validated experimentally.
3. The grasp force and pull-off force of the gripper depend on the size and shape of objects.
4. Soft robotic surfaces significantlyenhance the grasping adaptability and reliability of the soft
gripper.

Abstract

Soft grippers are an emerging field of robotics in recent years owing to their reduced
control complexity, easy fabrication, and excellent compliance. However, the small
contact area and force usually limit their grasping reliability. Herein, a soft gripper
consisting of two soft robotic surfaces (SRSs) is proposed inspired by Venus flytrap,
which can provide enveloping and pinching grasp modes. To guide the design of the
gripper, an analytical model of the SRS is developed for both bending inward and
outward. The experimental results show an excellent agreement with analytical results,
which demonstrates the validity of the analytical model. Additionally, the grasping
performance of the soft gripper is investigated experimentally. The results indicate that
the grasp and pull-off force depend on the size and shape of objects and applied pressure.
As the applied pressure is 60 kPa, the maximum grasp force and pull-off force reach

1
 0.71N and 8.15N, respectively. Various grasping experiments are also conducted to study
the effect of diverse objects, errors of object position, and SRS installation on the
grasping capacity. Our findings demonstrate that our gripper can observably enhance the
grasping adaptability and reliability due to the high passive compliance of the SRS
allowing a large contact area between the gripper and objects.

Keywords: soft robotic surface, pneumatic gripper, analytical modeling, grasping

reliability, soft robotics

Nomenclature α Deflection angle of Part 2

a Width of the SRS Ci Material coefficients
b Height of the chamber I1 First strain invariant
c Thickness of Part 1 s Total potential energy of the SRS
d Length of the chamber We Elastic potential energy of the SRS
e Maximum bulge height Wp Work done by the applied pressure
h Thickness in horizontal direction for Part 2 P Applied pressure
w Width of the chamber ΔV Volume change of a single chamber
H Length of the left wall of the chamber θi Bending angle of a single unit for inflating
G Initial distance between point A and point B θ Bending angle of the SRS for inflating
Li Length of a single unit  i' Bending angle of a single unit for deflating
Maximum bending angle of the SRS for
n Number of the chambers  max
'
deflating

1. Introduction

Robotic grasping has a wide variety of applications in both automatic production

lines in industry and the assistance for the disabled in daily life [1,2]. However, the grasp
via traditional rigid grippers is challenging in many applications, such as handling objects

2
with varying sizes, shapes, and properties. To grasp those objects, various sensors and
complex algorithms are generally used to accurately calculate their position and geometry,
which substantially increases the use-cost and limits the universality of rigid grippers
[3,4]. In addition, such grasping process has a tendency to cause damage to target objects
and operators [5,6]. Hence, a more universal and lower-cost gripper needs to be
developed.
In recent years, soft robotics [7-9] has become an emerging research hotspot with
the development of material science and bionic technology, which has also promoted the
progress of soft robotic grippers [10,11]. Compared with rigid grippers constructed by
rigid joints and links, soft grippers feature material softness and inherent mechanical
compliance [12-14]. Their softness and compliance allow them to interact with humans
safely and adapt to the target object's surface [15-17]. Recent research has mainly focused
on soft grasping by actuation in many different ways, such as passive structures with
external motors [18-21], thermal actuation [22-24], light reactions [25-27], shape
memory materials [28-30] and highly compressed fluids [31-34]. Among these grippers,
pneumatic ones actuated by compressed fluids are the most attractive owing to their low
cost, simple actuation schemes, and easy control [35-37]. And they are extensively
employed to subsea grasping [38,39] and terrestrial operation [40-42].
For the existing pneumatic grippers, the grasps can be divided into enveloping grasp
and pinching grasp in most contexts [43]. The enveloping grasp usually possesses a large
contact area between grippers and objects, while the pinching grasp generally involves
only a single contact point per finger [44]. Because of the large contact area, the
pneumatic grippers with enveloping grasp can provide a stronger force and reliable grasp
than multi-finger soft grippers. To improve the grasping performance of pneumatic
grippers, Hao et al. [45,46] and Li et al. [47] developed the enveloping soft grippers,
which can lift heavier objects. However, these grippers with merely enveloping grasp
cannot easily handle small and rod-like objects and are less flexible compared with
multi-finger grippers. On the other hand, some studies are conducted to improve the
grasping performance of fingered grippers via a variety of strategies. Phillips et al. [48]
and Kurumaya et al. [49] fabricated an arm and a wrist for the gripper in order to grip
objects at various positions. Park et al. [50] and Lin et al. [51] designed grippers both

3
integrated with soft material and rigid structures to enhance the fingertip force. Inspired
by gecko, Glick et al. [52] presented a two-finger gripper with adhesive, which was
capable of improving the grasping force by controlling the friction of fingers.
Researchers also proposed some variable stiffness grippers, like particle jamming
grippers [53,54] and grippers integrated with shape memory polymer [55]. In addition,
some grippers containing multi-finger [56-58] or adaptive palm [59] were designed. The
fingered grippers are developed to mimic the grasps of human hands, exhibiting great
application prospects [60-62].
Previous studies on soft pneumatic grippers have considerably promoted the
development and application of robotic grasps. However, their complex structures will
increase the difficulty of fabrication compared with the two-finger gripper. And the
contact area between the existing fingered grippers and objects is relatively limited,
which is insufficient to overcome the grasping unreliability due to the position errors of
objects, fabrication errors, and installation errors of soft fingers. On the other hand, most
of the pneumatic grippers merely possess single grasp mode: enveloping grasp or
pinching grasp. Single grasp mode is less adaptable and flexible for handling objects with
different shapes and stiffness. Developing more universal and simple grippers integrated
the advantages of enveloping grippers and fingered grippers is meaningful and useful for
a broader application. Inspired by the Venus flytrap [63], this article proposes a soft
robotic surface gripper that can provide two grasping modes. To some extent, this gripper
integrates the merits of fingered grippers and enveloping grippers, enhancing the grasping
adaptability and reliability of pneumatic grippers.
In this article, the design and fabrication of the soft robotic surface gripper are
introduced firstly. Then, we establish the analytical model of the soft robotic surface
when positive and negative pressures are applied to the chambers. And the experiments
are carried out to validate the developed analytical model. Finally, a variety of
experiments of the gripper, including the grasp force and pull-off force tests and the
grasping experiments for different objects, are performed to investigate their grasping
capacity.

2. Structure and Implementation

4
 In this section, we detail the bionic design of the soft gripper that can mimic the
motion of Venus flytrap. And the structure parameter and advantage of the gripper are
also described. Finally, the fabrication process of the SRS is introduced simply. The
finished SRS then needs to be installed on the rigid housing.
Venus flytrap is capable of changing the leaf shape from convex to concave for
opening and closing to grasp all kinds of insects [64], as shown in Fig. 1. Unlike human
hands and hawks claws, the biological gripper of the Venus flytrap contains two leaves
(soft surfaces). Inspired by this, we design a bionic soft gripper consisting of two soft
robotic surfaces (SRSs) that are fixed to the housing, as displayed in Fig. 2a. The bionic
soft gripper, referred to as SRS gripper, can mimic the motion of the flytrap to grasp
different objects as pressures are applied to the SRS. The structure of the SRS is
demonstrated in Fig. 2b, which comprises two soft bending pneumatic actuators and a
soft surface. The soft surface with the dimension of 101  72  3 mm connects the two
bending actuators. The bending actuator has pneumatic network structures of small
chambers embedded in the elastomer. And the actuator contains 10 tandem chambers
connected to a single inlet/outlet. Each chamber possesses a trapezoid cross-section so
that the gap between the chambers increases at the top of the actuator. In our design, there
are two novel concepts to improve the grasping performance of the gripper. Firstly, the
design of the trapezoid cross-section can provide a reverse bending angle under deflation,
resulting in a larger grasping range. Secondly, the soft surface of the SRS will deform
passively and envelop the convex objects when pressures are applied to the chambers.
Therefore, the SRS gripper can grip objects with enveloping grasp or pinching grasp
based on the shape of objects.
To fabricate the SRS gripper, we need to manufacture two SRSs firstly and then
assemble them to the housing. The SRS is fabricated by the multistep molding method,
which mainly includes two steps. Firstly, two bending actuators with open chambers are
cast. Secondly, the open chambers are sealed with uncured silicone rubber. Meanwhile,
the two bending actuators are also connected by the soft surface with uncured silicone
rubber. In this study, the molds for casting and the housing are fabricated by using a
commercial 3D printer with the material of SOMOS Imagine 8000. And the silicone

5
rubber E625 with a density of 1.17 g/cm3 (Hong Ye Jie) is used to cast the SRS. More
information about the fabrication process can refer to our previous work [65].

Fig. 1. Biological gripper of the Venus flytrap. (a) Open state of the leaves. (b) Closed
state of the leaves when they are subject to external stimuli.

Fig. 2. Bionic structure design of the soft gripper. (a) Structure of the soft gripper, where
it contains two soft robotic surfaces that are fixed to the housing. (b) Structure of the soft
robotic surface, which comprises two bending pneumatic actuators and a soft surface. (c)
Cross-sectional view of the bending actuator having pneumatic network structures.

3. Modeling of the SRS

In this section, an analytical model of the SRS is developed for capturing the
relationship between input pressures and bending deformation. The soft robotic surface is

6
made of silicone rubber with a nonlinear constitutive relation and involves complex
structures. Thus, the model needs to take into consideration both the hyperelastic material
and the geometry of the SRS. Note that the actuation of the SRS can be achieved by two
mechanisms, namely pressurizing and depressurizing the chambers. For pressurization,
we derive the static model based on the minimum potential energy method, which avoids
the complex analysis of force and torque. When negative pressure is applied to the SRS,
the analytical model of the maximum bending angle can be also obtained according to the
geometrical relationship.

Fig. 3. Schematic illustration of the deformation of the SRS. (a) Bending deformation of
the SRS upon pressurization. (b) Bending deformation of the SRS upon depressurization.
(c) Single chamber of the SRS without deformation. (d) Deformation of a single chamber
as positive pressure is applied, where Part 2 will bulge with the maximum bulge height of
e. Two adjacent chambers of the SRS in (e) the initial state and (f) actuating state.
When the SRS is actuated by positive pressure, it will bend downward as depicted in
Fig. 3a. Considering that the SRS is comprised of n units with the same geometry in
series, thus, the total potential energy  s of a single unit of the SRS can be calculated
with Equation (1).
 s  We - WP (1)

7
where We denotes the elastic potential energy stored in the silicone rubber of a single

unit, and WP represents the work done by the applied pressure in each unit. Each unit of
the SRS is divided into four parts artificially, as displayed in Fig. 3d. The elastic potential
energy We can be expressed as:

We  We1  We 2  We 3  We 4 (2)

where We1 , We 2 , We 3 , and We 4 are the elastic potential energy stored in Part 1, Part 2,
Part 3, and Part 4, respectively. In general, the top wall may send out the convex under
the applied pressure. Due to the small width and large thickness of the top wall (Part 3),
we can experimentally observe that this convex is much smaller than other walls [66].
For simplification, the deformation of Part 3 is neglected during this modeling. Obviously,
the elastic potential energy stored in Part 2 and Part 4 is the same. Hence, Equation (2)
can be rewritten as:
We  We1  2  We 2 (3)
According to the Yeoh material model, the strain energy density per unit volume of
hyperelastic materials is given by [67]:
n
W   Ci ( I1  3)i (4)
i 1

where C i is the material coefficients that can be fitted by experiment data, I1 is the
first strain invariant that is defined as:
I1  12  22  32 (5)

where 1 , 2 , and 3 are principle stretch ratios in three principal strain directions. In
this study, a second-order Yeoh model is used to calculate the strain energy density, which
can be written as:
W  C1 ( I1  3)  C2 ( I1  3) 2 (6)
For Part 1, we assume that it bends into a constant curvature shape when the SRS is
in actuation. Thus, the principle stretch ratio 11 in the length direction can be given as:
c
Li   i
11  2 (7)
Li

8
where Li is the length of a single unit, c is the thickness of Part 1, and  i is the
bending angle of a single unit. Due to the fact that no external force acts on Part 1 in the
width direction, the strain in the width direction is negligible so that 12 = 1. Assuming

the incompressibility of the silicone rubber, that is 111213  1 , the principle stretch ratio

13 can be calculated as:

1 Li
13  = (8)
11 c
Li   i
2
Thereby, the elastic potential energy of Part 1 We1 can be obtained as:

1 1
We1  (C1 (112   2)  C2 (112   2) 2 )V1 (9)
 2
11 112

where V1 is the volume of Part 1, which is equal to:

V1  Li  c  a (10)
where a is the width of the SRS.
With regard to Part 2, it will bulge when positive pressure is applied to the chamber,
as demonstrated in Fig. 3 d. According to the Yeoh theory of hyperelasticity [68], the
strain energy of Part 2 can be obtained by:
16C2 cos   w cos  2 b 2 2 4
We 2  2[  A0 A1  ( b )  ( w cos  )   2C  e h cos 
wb     (11)
w cos  b
4C1B0 B1 (  )e2h cos  ]
b w cos 
where C1 and C2 are the material coefficients of silicone rubber, w is the width of the
chamber, α is the deflection angle of Part 2, e denotes the maximum bulge height which
is the function of the bending angle  i , h is the thickness in horizontal direction for Part
2. Based on the fact that the length of the SRS is unchanged at the bottom but elongated
in the middle of the chamber, the relationship between the bending angle and the
maximum bulge height can be obtained by the following equations:
L(e)  Li
i  (12)
b
c
2

9
 L(e)  Li  2  e (13)

And A0 , A1 , B0 , B1 , C are the constant coefficients which can be calculated as:

1
A0   [ f ( )]4d (14)
0

1
A1   [ f ' ( )]4d (15)
0

1
B0   [ f ( )]2d (16)
0

1
B1   [ f ' ( )]2d (17)
0

1
C   [ f ( )]2 [ f ' ( )]2d (18)
0

where f ( ) is the profile function for describing the bulge. Generally, the deformation
of hyperelastic membranes is identified as circular arc [69], which can be expressed as:

f ( )  1   2 (19)
To simplify computation, 12-order Taylor series expansions of the circular arc are utilized
to characterize the bulge.
At the actuating state, when the positive pressure P is supplied to the chambers, the
work done by the applied pressure in each unit can be expressed as:
WP  P  V (20)

where V is the volume change of a single chamber. According to the assumption of

the bulge, we can calculate the volume change V based on Equation (21).
4ewb 2
V  D (21)
cos 
1
where D   f ( ) d is the constant determined by the profile function.
0

On the basis of the obtained We and WP , the total potential energy  s of a single

unit can be further expressed as the function of the independent variable  i . At each

equilibrium state, the partial derivative of the total potential energy  s is zero with

respect to the bending angle  i . Hence, the relationship between the pressure and the

bending angle  i can be obtained as:

10
 dWe d V
P (22)
di di

And the total bending angle of the SRS can be expressed as:
  n  i (23)
As displayed in Fig. 3b, the SRS will bend upward as negative pressures are applied
to the chambers. For ease of the design, we also construct a model to predict the
maximum bending angle of the SRS upon depressurization. As illustrated in Fig. 3e and f,
we consider that point A coincides with point B as the bending angle is up to the
maximum. Neglecting the deformation of the chambers, the maximum bending angle of a
single unit on depressurization is equal to  i' . On the basis of the geometrical
relationship, the maximum bending angle of a single unit can be calculated as:
G
 i'  2 arcsin (24)
2H
where G is the initial distance between point A and point B, H is the length of the left
wall of the chamber, as shown in Fig. 3e. Thereby, the maximum bending angle of the
SRS upon depressurization can be obtained by:
max
'
 (n  1)  i' (25)

4. Results and Discussions

To validate the developed analytical model, a comparison of the bending angle

between the analytical and experimental results is carried out firstly. Based on the
analytical model, the effect of different parameters, including the width and thickness of
the soft surface, on the bending deformation is discussed. Then, the grasping performance
of the SRS gripper is investigated experimentally. The grasp force and pull-off force are
tested for grasping different objects. And a series of grasping experiments are performed
in order to demonstrate the practical capability of the SRS gripper. Particularly, the effect
of the objects position and SRS installation on the grasping capability of the SRS gripper
is investigated in the end.

4.1. Bending performance of the SRS

11
 The bending deformation of the SRS is investigated analytically and experimentally
in this part. Based on the developed analytical model, the bending deformation of the
SRS upon pressurization is characterized by the bending angle, which is chiefly affected
by the applied pressure, structural parameters, and material properties. In our design, the
structural parameters of the SRS are determined, as listed in Table 1. The material
properties of the Yeoh model for E625 can be also found in Ref. [70]. The bending angle
of the SRS is obtained after solving the analytical model with MATLAB codes. The
relationship between the bending angle and applied positive pressure is demonstrated in
Fig. 4a. As regards depressurization, the maximum bending angle principally depends on
the structural parameters, including the gap between two chambers and the length of the
side wall. Fig. 4b displays the analytical results of the SRS on depressurization.
Additionally, the relationship between the bending angle and the negative pressure is also
studied experimentally. The apparatus of pressure supply and measurement is constructed,
and it is detailed in our earlier work [70]. The bending angle of the SRS can be obtained
by processing the images of the SRS deformation that are recorded with a camera. As
shown in Fig. 4, both the experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that the
bending angle increases with the applied positive pressure. The discrepancies between the
analytical and experimental results may be due to the constant curvature hypothesis. The
neglect of gravity effect will also lead to these differences. When the bending angle of the
SRS is less than 180°, the analytical results are greater than the experimental results
because the gravity prevents the SRS deformation. Whereas the bending angle exceeds
180°, the gravity at the free end of the SRS has a positive effect on the SRS deformation
owing to the same direction of gravity and bending, resulting in a bigger bending angle of
experimental results than that of analytical results. In summary, the experimental results
match well with the analytical results, which demonstrates the validity of the developed
model. Fig. 4b also shows that the bending angle of the SRS increases nonlinearly with
the negative pressure applied to the chambers. The maximum bending angle in the
experiments is 113.7°, which is approximate to the analytical result of 118.9°. As the
applied pressure further increases, the maximum bending angle of experimental results is
close to that of analytical results. This consistency between analytical and experimental
results verify the analytical model for deflating.

12
 Table 1 Structural parameters and material properties of the SRS

a b c d h w H G Li α n
Structural (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (°)
parameters
108 10.5 3 5 1.5 14 13 3 9 4.4 10
Material
C1= 0.1127 MPa C2= 0.0046 MPa
coefficients [70]

Fig. 4. Bending performance of the SRS. (a) Relationship between the bending angle and
the applied positive pressure varied from 0 to 45 kPa at the step of 5 kPa. (b) Relationship
between the bending angle and the applied negative pressure varied from 0 to -45 kPa at
the step of -5 kPa.
The soft surface is an important feature of the SRS, so the effect of the width (a) and
thickness (c) of the soft surface, is discussed in this part. By solving the developed
analytical model, the bending angle of the SRS with different parameters is demonstrated
in Fig. 5 as the pressure of 40 kPa is applied to the chambers. The rising width and
thickness of the soft surface mean that more input energy is needed to bend the SRS.
Thus, the bending angle decreases with the increase of width and thickness of the soft
surface as the applied pressure is the same. The width has less effect on the deformation
of the SRS compared with the thickness. In short, the analytical model can accurately
characterize the bending deformation of the SRS and provide an effective tool for the
design of the SRS griper.

13
Fig. 5. Effect of the parameters on the deformation of the SRS. (a) Bending angle for
different widths of the soft surface varied from 68 mm to 148 mm. (b) Bending angle for
different thicknesses of the soft surface varied from 2.0 mm to 4.0 mm.

4.2. Grasping experiments and results

To quantitatively analyze the grasping capability of the SRS gripper, two devices are
constructed to measure its grasp force and pull-off force for different objects, as
illustrated in Fig. 6. Cylinders and spheres with diameters of 60, 90, and 120 mm are
selected for the tests. Several half-cylinders and half-spheres are printed by a 3D printer
and assembled together to form whole cylinders and whole spheres. During the
measurement of grasp force, a pressure transducer (CHINO, range: 5 kg, accuracy: 0.1%)
is placed between two half-cylinders or half-spheres, and a platform is placed on the
bottom of objects. When the gripper is brought in contact with the objects (Fig. 6a), the
grasp force can be obtained and shown on the displayer. Fig. 6b also exhibits the test
apparatus of the pull-off force, in which the pressure transducer is fixed on the bottom of
objects. The maximum pulling force can be obtained when the objects are being pulled
down. Note that the pull-off force equals the maximum pulling force obtained from the
transducer plus the self-weight of the object and transducer. The experimental results of
the grasp force and pull-off force are depicted in Fig. 7. And it can be found that both the
grasp force and pull-off force increase with the applied pressure. As regards grasping the
cylinders with varying dimensions, the SRS gripper mainly utilizes pinching grasp mode.
The results show that the grasp force and pull-off force are the biggest for grasping the
90-mm cylinder, whereas these are the smallest for grasping the 60-mm cylinder. This is
due to that the smaller and bigger cylinders will lead to a decrease of contact area, and the
SRS gripper pinches the bigger cylinders from the top to bottom (Fig. 6). The SRS

14
gripper handles the spheres with the enveloping grasp, that is, the soft surface envelops
the spheres when pressures are applied to the chambers. Fig. 7b and d demonstrate that
the grasp force and pull-off force of the SRS gripper increase with the sphere dimension.
This is because that the contact area between the objects and the soft surface rises with
the increasing radius of spheres.

Fig. 6. Grasp performance tests of the SRS gripper. (a) Grasp force tests and (b) pull-off
force tests for the cylinders and spheres with different diameters, where the force
generated by the gripper can be detected by the pressure transducer and shown by the
electronic display. (c) Cylinders and (d) spheres with diameters of 60, 90, and 120 mm.

15
Fig. 7. Grasp force and pull-off force of the SRS gripper when different pressures are
applied to the chambers. Grasp force for (a) the cylinders and (b) the spheres with
different diameters. Pull-off force for (c) the cylinders and (d) the spheres with different
diameters.
To demonstrate the practical capability of the SRS gripper, a series of experiments
for grasping various objects are conducted. Here, three categories are chosen typically,
including cylinders and spheres with different sizes and an irregular apple (Table 2).
These objects cover different dimensions, kinds, and shapes. In the experiments, the SRS
gripper is mounted at the end of a seven-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. And the
capability of the SRS gripper is tested by grasping, lifting, moving, dropping, and placing
various objects. The moving process is significant in grasping application since the
objects may be dropped in the starting and braking of the manipulator arm. A successful
manipulation requires that the objects will not be dropped during the process from
grasping to placing. Thus, this test is more strict and useful compared with the pure grasp
and the grasp without movement.

Table 2 Properties of the selected objects

Objects Size (mm) Weight (g)

120-mm cylinder 120  110 255
90-mm cylinder  90  110 185
60-mm cylinder  60  110 119
120-mm sphere 120 260
90-mm sphere  90 144
60-mm sphere  60 62
Apple - 255

Firstly, the experiments for grasping varying objects are carried out. As displayed in
Fig. 8a, the SRS gripper provides two modes to grip different objects. The pinching grasp
is generally employed to handle rod-like objects, whereas the enveloping grasp can grip
objects with convexities, like the spheres and apples. Though the rod-like objects can be
also grasped with enveloping grasp sometimes, this grasp mode is less reliable than the
pinching grasp, as shown in Supplementary Video S1. And the SRS gripper is capable of

16
gripping a wide range of dimensions of objects because of the outward bending. To
compare their grasping abilities with generic four-finger grippers, the grasping
experiments of a four-finger gripper are also performed. Compared with the SRS gripper,
the four-finger gripper has no soft surface between the parallel bending actuators, while
all the configurations of the two grippers are the same. As depicted in Fig. 8b, the
four-finger gripper can also grasp objects with two modes: grasping with four fingers (FF
mode) and grasping with two fingers (TF mode, equivalent to the two-finger gripper).
The FF mode seems to be difficult for grasping the convex objects (sphere and apple), yet
the rod-like object (Cylinder) is able to grip successfully with FF mode. With respect to
the TF mode, it fails to grasp the apple and 90-mm cylinder no matter how high the
applied pressure is. The 120-mm sphere is grasped with the TF mode, but it dropped
during the moving process (Supplementary Video S2). In short, the fingers of the
four-finger gripper have less contact area with the apple and cylinder and easily twist in
contact with convex objects. Thus, the four-finger gripper seems to be unreliable and easy
to fail under the influence of objects shape and size and external disturbance. On the
contrary, the proposed SRS gripper achieves a larger contact area with the convex objects
via the high passive compliance of the soft surface. This envelope of convex objects can
also overcome external disturbances, such as the starting and braking of the manipulator
arm. Therefore, the high passive compliance of the SRS effectively ensures the grasping
reliability and stability of the SRS gripper.

Fig. 8. Grasping experiments for the SRS gripper and four-finger gripper. (a) SRS gripper
grasps different objects (see Supplementary Video S1). Pinching grasp: (I) grasping
120-mm cylinder, (II) grasping 90-mm cylinder, (III) grasping 60-mm cylinder;

17
Enveloping grasp: (IV) grasping 90-mm cylinder, (V) grasping 120-mm sphere, (VI)
grasping 90-mm sphere, (VII) grasping 60-mm sphere, (VIII) grasping an apple. (b)
Four-finger gripper grasps different objects (see Supplementary Video S2). Grasping with
four fingers: (I) grasping an apple, (II) grasping 120-mm sphere, (III) grasping 90-mm
cylinder; Grasping with two fingers: (IV) grasping an apple, (V) grasping 120-mm sphere,
(VI) grasping 90-mm cylinder.
Additionally, the effect of the objects position on the grasping capability of the SRS
gripper is investigated. In the grasping experiments, the offsets between the SRS gripper
and the apple are 0, 10, 15, and 20 mm, respectively. The experimental results are
displayed in Fig. 9 when the pressure of 60 kPa is applied to the SRS gripper. The results
reveal that the SRS gripper can grasp the apple successfully and reliably as the offset is
less than 15 mm. When the offset is 20 mm, the object will drop down during the moving
process, as shown in Fig. 9d. Hence, the developed SRS gripper demonstrates a high
error tolerance of objects position, which could reduce the requirement of positioning
accuracy to some extent.

18
Fig. 9. Grasping experiments of the SRS gripper for different offsets between the gripper
center and the object center (see Supplementary Video S3). The apple will be gripped,
lifted, moved, and placed as the offsets are (a) 0 mm, (b) 10 mm, (c) 15 mm, and (d) 20
mm, respectively.
Finally, we discuss the influence of the offsets between the two SRSs on the
gripping ability. The grasping process is shown in Fig. 10, in which the offsets are 0, 8,
and 16 mm, respectively, and the object is placed at the center of the SRS gripper. The
two SRSs of the gripper bend asymmetrically because of this offset. However, the SRS
gripper can finish the grasping tasks excellently despite the asymmetrical bending. For
two-finger and four-finger grippers, the asymmetrical bending will produce a negative
effect on their grasping reliability and successful rate. In practical application, the
asymmetrical bending may be caused by the manufacturing and installation errors of
grippers. Our proposed SRS gripper can reduce the effect of these errors to realize a
reliable grasp.
In conclusion, the SRS gripper can grasp a wider range of objects with various sizes
and shapes compared with the four-finger gripper. And the grasp is more successful and
reliable for the SRS gripper when the same pressure and movement speed act on the
grippers.

19
Fig. 10. Grasping experiments of the SRS gripper for different offsets between the two
SRSs (see Supplementary Video S4). The apple is placed in the center of the SRS gripper
without offset, and it will be gripped, lifted, moved and placed as the offsets are (a) 0 mm,
(b) 8 mm, and (c) 16 mm, respectively.

5. Conclusion

In this paper, inspired by Venus flytrap, we design and fabricate a SRS gripper that
contains two soft robotic surfaces. The SRSs can bend outward under deflation to extend
the grasping range of the gripper. The soft surface of the SRS will deform passively and
envelop the convex objects. Based on the shape of objects, the gripper can provide two
grasping modes, including the enveloping grasp and pinching grasp.
To effectively design of the SRS gripper, the bending performance of the SRS is
investigated firstly. The static model of the SRS upon pressurization is established based
on the minimum potential energy method. And experiments are performed to validate the
analytical model. The experimental results match well with the analytical results of the
SRS upon pressurization. When the applied pressure is 45 kPa, the experimental and
analytical bending angles are 213.6° and 206.3°, respectively. For depressurization, the
maximum bending angle can be also predicted analytically according to the geometrical
relationship. The experimental results show that the maximum bending angle of the SRS
on depressurization is 113.7°, which is close to the analytical prediction of 118.9°.
Therefore, the developed analytical model is capable of effectively describing the
bending deformation of the SRS.
Furthermore, the grasping performance of the SRS gripper is investigated
experimentally. At first, the grasp force and pull-off force are tested as the gripper grasps
spheres and cylinders with different sizes. The grasp force and pull-off force are the
biggest for gripping the 90-mm cylinder, which are 0.49 N and 8.15 N, respectively. As
for grasping spheres, the grasp force and pull-off force rise with the increase of sphere
diameters owing to the rising contact area between the sphere and the soft surface. And a
series of grasping experiments, including grasping objects with different shapes and sizes,
grasping the objects with small offsets and the grasping asymmetry, are carried out. The
experiments indicate that the SRS gripper can grasp the objects successfully and reliably

20
in spite of the various shapes and sizes of objects, the poor positioning accuracy of
grippers, and the asymmetrical bending of the SRSs.
In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that the SRS can enhance the grasping
adaptability and reliability of the soft gripper. And the SRS gripper also provides a new
concept for the design of soft robotic surfaces and extends the research on soft grippers.

Acknowledgements

The supports from the National Natural Science Foundation (51621004) and
National Defense Foundation of China are gratefully acknowledged.

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Appendix A. Supplementary material

Supplementary Video S1
Supplementary Video S2
Supplementary Video S3
Supplementary Video S4

Appendix B. Calculation code

The MATLAB codes for calculating the relationship between the bending angle and
the applied pressure are given below:
% Calculation sample of bending angle for inflating
SPAa = 14*10^-3; % Width of the chamber
SPAaa = 18*10^-3; %Width of the bending actuator
SPAb = 10.5*10^-3; %Height of the chamber
SPAc = 3*10^-3; %Thickness of Part 1
SPAd = 5*10^-3; %Length of the Chamber
SPAh = 1.5*10^-3; %Thickness in horizontal direction for Part 2
alpha = atan(0.81*10^-3/SPAb); %Deflection angle of Part 2
Li = 9*10^-3; %Length of a single unit
Num = 10; %Number of the chambers

21
 PlaneW =72*10^-3; %Width of the soft surface
C10 = 112700; %Material coefficient
C20 = 4600;
syms theta
A0 = 0.533333;
A1 = 1.5673;
B0 = 0.666667;
B1 = 0.955134;
C = 0.333333;
D = 0.791001;
h = theta* (SPAc+0.5*SPAb)/2;
w1 = 4*C20*(A0*A1*((SPAa/SPAb)^2
+ (SPAb/SPAa)^2) + 2*C^2)*h^4*(SPAh/cos(alpha))/(SPAb*SPAa/4)
+ 4*C10*B0*B1*(SPAa/SPAb+SPAb/SPAa)*h^2*(SPAh*cos(alpha));
sp41 = (Li+theta *SPAc/2)/Li;
sp42 = 1;
sp43 = 1/sp41;
ww4 = C10*(sp41^2+sp42^2+sp43^2-3)+C20*(sp41^2+sp42^2+sp43^2-3)^2;
V4 = Li* SPAc*(2*SPAaa+PlaneW);
w4 = ww4*V4;
wt= 4*w1 +w4;
dwt = diff(wt, theta);
dv = 4*(4*h*0.5*SPAb*0.5*SPAa*D^2);
ddv = diff(dv, theta);
Press = dwt/ddv;
thetaV = cell(1, 50);
for i = 1:51
thetaV(1, i) = {i*0.01};
end

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Dear Editors:
On behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to
revise our manuscript, we appreciate editors and reviewers very much for their positive
and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Soft Robotic
Surface Enhances the Grasping Adaptability and Reliability of Pneumatic Grippers” (ID:
SUBMIT2IJMS D-21-02699). Those comments and suggestions are all valuable and very
helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as of importance guiding
significance to our researches. We have studied Editors/Reviewers’ comments carefully
and have made revision which marked in redin the paper. We have tried our best to revise
our manuscript according to the comments. Attached please find the revised manuscript
and responses to the comments, which we would like to submit for your kind
consideration.
We would like to express our great appreciation to you for your comments and
suggestions on our paper. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you and best regards.

Yours sincerely,
Wei Xiao, Chang Liu, Dean Hu*, Gang Yang and Xu Han

Corresponding author:

28
 Dean Hu
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacture for Vehicle Body,
Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 P. R. Chin
E-mail: hudean@hnu.edu.cn

Author Statement
Wei Xiao: Writing-original draft, Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation.
Chang Liu: Investigation, Data curation.
Dean Hu: Conceptualization, Writing - Review & Editing, Resources.
Gang Yang: Validation, Resources.
Xu Han: Supervision, Resources.

Declaration of interests

☒The authors declare that they have no known competing financialinterestsor personal
relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be
considered as potential competing interests:

29