Grasping analysis for a biped climbing robot

A novel biped robot that can climb poles, trusses and trees for high-rise missions has been recently developed. Consisting of an arm as the main body and two grippers mounted at the two ends as the end-effectors, the robot has both climbing function and manipulating function. One key issue with the robot is that its gripper must grasp the object firmly to support the whole robot when it performs climbing or manipulating task. In this paper, grasping analysis with the grippers is presented. The force-closure property of the grasping is first analyzed, the mechanics model is then built, and the effects of the geometric and physic parameters of gripper fingers to the grasping is analyzed. Experimental tests and computational results are provided to improve the gripper for better grasping.