KIST-KAIST Research Team
"Material is Cheap and Efficient, Highly Practical"
A 'soft robot' technology capable of lifting heavy objects weighing 100kg has been developed using lightweight and soft materials such as fabric, paper, and silicone.
On the 13th, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that Dr. Song Ga-hye’s intelligent robotics research team, in collaboration with Professor Lee Dae-young’s aerospace engineering team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), jointly developed a woven-structure soft gripper made of 130g material that can grasp objects weighing over 100kg.
The soft robot gripper, made from these materials, functions like a robot’s hand, performing essential tasks such as safely gripping or releasing objects. Unlike conventional grippers made from rigid materials, soft grippers offer greater flexibility and safety, making them suitable for household robots handling fragile items like eggs or logistics robots transporting various shapes of goods. However, their load capacity has been low, making it difficult to lift heavy objects, and their grasping stability was poor, causing them to easily drop objects under slight external shocks.
To increase the load capacity of the soft robot gripper, the research team applied a new structure inspired by textiles, rather than developing new materials or reinforcing the structure as in previous methods. The weaving technology they focused on tightly interlaces individual threads to create sturdy fabrics, which have been used for centuries in clothing, bags, and industrial textiles due to their ability to stably support heavy items. The team designed the gripper by interlacing thin PET plastic strips in a woven structure that can be tightened and loosened.
The woven-structure gripper thus produced weighs 130g but can grasp objects weighing 100kg. Existing grippers of the same weight could lift up to 20kg, and grippers capable of lifting the same weight weighed as much as 100kg, indicating a remarkable increase in load capacity relative to its own weight.
Additionally, since the plastic used costs only a few thousand won, and the gripper can handle objects of various shapes and weights, it is a versatile gripper with high price competitiveness. Moreover, the gripper can be completed simply by fastening the plastic strips, making the manufacturing process simple and under 10 minutes, with easy replacement and maintenance, resulting in excellent process efficiency.
Besides PET, the main material used by the research team, the gripper can also be made from various materials such as rubber and compounds that possess elasticity. Customized grippers suitable for industrial and logistics sites requiring strong grasping performance or for various extreme environments can be produced and utilized.
A concept of a soft robot made from lightweight materials but capable of lifting a weight of 100kg. Image source provided by KIST
Dr. Song stated, “The woven-structure gripper developed this time combines the advantages of soft robots while being able to grasp heavy objects at the level of rigid grippers. It can be manufactured in various sizes from coins to cars, and can grasp objects of various shapes and weights, from thin cards to flowers, so it is expected to be applicable in industries, logistics, and household fields that require soft grippers.”
The research results were published on the 2nd of last month in the international journal Nature Communications (IF: 16.6, JCR top 8.2%). It was selected as an Editors’ Highlights paper, which introduces the top 50 papers by field.
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