Soft Robotic Gripper for Berry Harvesting
A berry harvesting berries system including a mobile platform and a tendon-driven gripper having fingers made of a compliant material, which prevents unwanted damage to the berries.
1 . A system for harvesting berries comprising a tendon-driven gripper having fingers made of a compliant material, which prevent unwanted damage to the berries; said gripper including an internal backbone made of an elastic material.
2 . The system of claim 1 wherein said strip is stiffer than said finger, said strip provides increased stiffness in the direction said finger curls, and stiffens the side-to-side direction stiffness of said finger, which prevent the canes from pushing the finger into an undesired configuration.
3 . The system of claim 1 wherein said fingers of said gripper undergo deflection based on the retraction of a tendon located in said fingers.
4 . The system of claim 1 wherein each finger has an internal channel in which a tendon is located.
5 . The system of claim 4 wherein said channel is reinforced by PTFE tubing to ensure there is no unwanted damage to said finger.
6 . The system of claim 3 wherein said tendons are retracted when a distributed load is applied to said tendons.
7 . The system of claim 7 wherein said load is eccentric to the neutral bending plane by being located a spaced distance apart from said strip resulting in the inward bending of a finger, permitting the ability to grip an object when three or more fingers are used simultaneously.
8 . The system of claim 7 further including a motor-driven tendon retraction system comprised of a stepper motor and a linear actuated plate to which said tendons are attached.
9 . The system of claim 1 further including force sensors attached to the fingertips of said fingers adapted to provide force feedback to prevent crushing of a berry.
10 . The system of claim 1 wherein said fingers are axis-symmetrically spaced apart to prevent excessive forces being applied to one specific location on an object such as a berry.
11 . (canceled)
12 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a mobile robot platform with autonomous behavior, where said mobile platform is adapted to have the characteristic of self-control based on the boundaries and geography of a work area.
13 . (canceled)
14 . (canceled)
15 . (canceled)
16 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a rigid protective covering that prevents said fingers from being pulled outward by canes while the grippers move towards the berries; once within the vicinity of a berry, said rigid protective covering opens to allow said fingers to reach outward for the berry and grasp it.
17 . The system of claim 1 wherein each finger is spaced 120° and is angled 20° outward from its vertical axis.