Here at 3D Rapid Print, one of the fastest growing 3D Printing companies in the Thames Valley, we like to keep abreast of the latest innovations in 3D printing.
On July 28th 2022, the University of Washington (UW) announced the creation of a new way to design a 3D printable robotic passive gripper than can pick up almost anything. (Forklift tongs are arguably the world’s most successful passive gripper.) A group of researchers at UW wrote a computer algorithm that generates possible grasp configurations and ranks them based on several variables including stability, before optimising the best one to see if an insert trajectory is possible. If the algorithm can’t find one, it moves on to the next best configuration on its list and tries again. Once a good match is found, the computer outputs two sets of instructions: one for a 3D printer to 3D print the gripper and one for the robot arm’s trajectory once the gripper is attached.
The team tested their method with a variety of objects, including some from the YCB Object and Model Set, which are the standard for testing a robot’s ability to do physical manipulation tasks. They also designed objects that would be challenging for traditional grasping robots, such as ones with very shallow angles, or with internal grasping where they would have to be picked up with the insertion of a key. This constituted 22 different objects, including a 3D printed model rabbit, a doorstop-shaped wedge, a tennis ball and a drill. The computer designed paths and 3D printed grippers worked for 20 of the objects, 2 of which were a curved keyhole and a wedge with a pyramid shape.
The team did 10 test pickups on each object. For 16 of them, all 10 test pickups were successful. Despite most of the remaining objects each having at least 1 successful pickup, 2 didn’t, which were a bowl and a cup with an egg-shaped handle. This was due to issues with the objects’ 3D models that were given to the computer; specifically, the bowl’s model described its sides as thinner than they actually were and the cup’s model was at the wrong orientation.
UW argued that one limitation of the team’s method is that passive grippers can’t be designed to pick up all objects. For example, while it’s easier to pick up objects that vary in width or have protruding edges, objects with uniformly smooth surfaces like water bottles or boxes are difficult to passively grip. Nonetheless, the team was encouraged to see their algorithm do so well, especially with some of the more difficult shapes, such as a cylinder with a keyhole at the top. For further work, the team hopes to develop passive grippers that can pick up a whole class of objects, which would avoid the need to make a unique gripper for each object. The team’s research was published in the journal ACM Transactions on Graphics.
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Disclaimer: Featured image of “M. D. Shore, S1-c, operating a forklift truck at the Navy supply depot at Guam, Marianas.”, 06-08-1945 – NARA – 520685 is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
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