Vacuum gripper imitated octopus sucker-effect of liquid membrane for absorption-

This paper describes a vacuum gripper that imitates the sucker of the octopus which is useful for the handling of industrial parts. It is difficult to use other sucker type vacuum grippers, but this gripper can adhere to rigid materials since the sucker is flexible. In the present work, we evaluated the effect of a liquid membrane on vacuum suction, since the industrial part often has a liquid membrane of, for example, oil and water. The success rate of grip was increased by wetting the surface, regardless of the object´s shape and weight, since the liquid membrane filled the gap between the gripper and object. For the same reason, the maximum adsorption force was improved up to 1.8 times of 46 N.