Specialised Hook Gripper For Robotic Grasping of Vine Tomato Trusses

In this master thesis, the development of an innovative gripper specifically designed for grasping the delicate peduncles of vine tomato trusses is presented. This research addresses a critical challenge in agricultural automation: efficiently and safely manipulating high-value crops without causing damage. The thesis begins with a comprehensive...

A magnetic actuated deployable suction gripper for complex shaped surface attachment: An explorative design study

Suction grippers have the advantage to handle many different types and sizes of items, without being restricted by the dimensions of clamps to enclose an object and to handle objects more delicately. <br/>However, the challenge of attaching these grippers to irregularly-shaped and rough surfaces remains a persistent issue. Despite advancements...

Validation of a grip force scheduled LPV model of time-varying neuromuscular admittance

Haptic Shared Control (HSC) systems offer a means to naturally support human drivers in the transition to automated driving. Tuning of HSC requires knowledge of the neuromuscular system (NMS) of drivers. This MSc thesis project aimed to experimentally validate a linear parameter varying (LPV) technique for modeling driver neuromuscular...

A Better Grasp on the Asymmetrical Adaptation of Grip Force in Response to Friction Perturbations

Our remarkable sense of touch provides us the feedback that is crucial for successfully manipulating a wide range of objects.<br/>The unconscious synergy between touch and the precision grip is particularly astonishing.<br/>During precision manipulation, humans constantly control their grip force to maintain a safety margin of approximately 25...

An ergonomic approach to the design of bicycle handlebar grips

Summary<br/> <br/>This project is carried out in collaboration with bicycle accessories manufacturer Widek BV. Widek came with the plan to create a new design for bicycle handlebar grips with an increased ergonomic value compared to the currently available alternatives. The origination of this plan lies with the release of a paper containing new...

Learning to estimate the proximity of slip using high-resolution tactile sensing

Tactile sensing provides crucial information about the stability of a grasped object by a robotic gripper. Tactile feedback can be used to predict slip, allowing for timely response to perturbations and to avoid dropping objects. Tactile sensors, included in robotic grippers, measure vibrations, strain or shearing forces which are produced by...

Compliant shape adaptive chicory gripping: for robotic sorting processes

This thesis contains the design process of a compliant shape adaptive chicory gripper for robotic sorting processes. The robotic sorting line consists of an input and output conveyor-belt. The input line contains unsorted chicories which are scanned by a robotic vision system. Overhead FlexPicker robots, equipped with chicory grippers, sort the...

Grip on wet interfaces: an experimental study on the role of drainage

Drainage of fluid from wet adhesive-substrate interfaces is often mentioned to be an important mechanism in obtaining strong grip. It has been hypothesized that micropatterned adhesives – that contain features (e.g., pillars) separated by channels on their surface – have a better drainage capability compared to unpatterned adhesives....

Driver adaptation to road narrowing: reducing speed or increasing neuromuscular stiffness?

Drivers continuously adapt to the different needs and constraints in the driving scene. Literature has provided evidence for two adaptation strategies in response to an increased risk (decreasing the road width or increasing the driving speed) while lane keeping: decreasing driving speed and increasing endpoint arm stiffness. However, so far...

Capillary-based gripping for laparoscopic bowel surgery

Lifting an object by capillary forces is mostly done with a single liquid bridge which connects the target object to a probe. In this work the potential of capillary forces for soft-tissue manipulation is investigated; not only a single liquid bridge is used, but multiple bridges as well since capillary forces can be enhanced by contact...

Adaptable Haptic Shared Control based on Grip Force: smoothly shifting control authority

An important design choice for Haptic Shared Control is the magnitude of assisting forces: high assisting forces are beneficial during agreement between operator and controller, but also result in larger conflict forces in case of disagreement. In order to use higher forces without increasing conflict forces, literature proposes Adaptable Haptic...

Developing a body-powered co-contraction equivalent: Applied to switch between a lateral and an opposition grip

Myoelectric as well as body-powered hand prostheses, the two commercially available prosthetic control types, have both their specific advantages. Advanced myoelectric prostheses for example have the characteristic of facilitating multiple degrees of freedom due to grip type variation and/or wrist movements. Compared to prosthetic devices with...

Estimating an LPV model of neuromuscular admittance with grip force as scheduling parameter

Development of adaptive haptic shared control system requires understanding of the adaptive nature of the driver’s neuromuscular system. In this study, linear parameter varying modeling techniques are proposed to identify changes in the admittance of the driver’s arm. The admittance describes the relation between the torque applied to the...

Design of a Hand-Held Spasticity Assessment Instrument for children

Development of a spasticity assessment equipment to be placed on children during examination.

Haptic feedback on the steering wheel to maximize front axle grip

Traditional Electronic Stability Control (ESC) systems influence planar vehicle motions to better match these to the driver’s intention. These systems use the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) hardware to generate the needed tire forces. This has a large impact on longitudinal vehicle motions. A second method of altering the front wheel tire forces...

Development of a device to assist force generation for high-load orthopaedic actions

Orthopaedic surgery includes frequent removal of bony tissue with large instruments that require a significant force to operate. An increasing number of surgeons, especially female and older surgeons, cannot operate high-load orthopedic instruments properly because they lack the necessary force or hand span. The goal of this study is to develop...