Researchers Design Supersonic Grippers for Climbing Robots

A research team from New Zealand’s University of Canterbury has designed a supersonic model of the Bernoulli gripper to enable a robot to climb on various surfaces. This robot’s gripper does not touch the wall.

The main advantage of the technique is that it is possible to get a non-contact grip, which is extremely useful to grab objects that are sterile or fragile. A simple Bernoulli gripper cannot support the robot’s weight but a supersonic gripper is five times more powerful.

The robot’s air gripper has been specifically designed with a small gap of 25 ìm to achieve supersonic airflow, which generates a low pressure vortex within. The low pressure vortex center enables adhesion. When the robot was tested, it was found that the supersonic gripper was able to sustain five times more weight than any typical Bernoulli gripper even without supplying any external pressure or air volume. The robot can be used for inspection purposes in industries.

Details about the robot were explained in an ICRA paper entitled, "An Investigation into Improved Non-Contact Adhesion Mechanism Suitable for Wall Climbing Robotic Applications”.