“Bobbit Worm”‐Inspired Soft Adaptive Grasper with Self‐Generated Triboelectric Force Sensor

Abstract

Abstract Soft actuators can realize delicate adaptive grasping of fragile and irregularly shaped objects, which are essential in biological and engineering systems. Yet, critical concerns in the frontier soft graspers are insufficient grasping ability and functional limitations. Here, we propose a Bobbit worm‐inspired multimodal‐sensing adaptive soft grasper (MSASG) enabled by harnessing the Miura‐origami skeleton integrated with self‐generated triboelectric force sensors (TFSs). The Miura‐origami skeleton endows the soft grasper a high grasping force while provides an energy‐efficient way to passively embrace an object without extra energy input. A multimodal TFSs with tactile sensing (TFS‐1) and pressure‐feedback (TFS‐2) functions is constructed by directly packaging a pyramid‐pattern elastic film on the Miura‐origami skeleton. The MSASG implement fast grasping or releasing action by evaluating pressures of various approaching prey, including hermit crabs, crickets, and beetle, etc. And its sensitivity greater than 0.18 V mN−1. In particular, the grasping performances and triboelectric sensing capacity can be optimized by modulating topological parameters (crease length, and surface film thickness, etc.), using a combination of theoretical modeling, finite element simulations, and experiments. The bionic design of soft graspers broadens the future applications for versatile human‐robot‐environment interaction scenarios, such as adaptive robots, reconfigurable architectures, medical devices, and deep‐sea explorations.

Keywords

• bio‐inspiration
• self‐generated
• soft adaptive grasper
• triboelectric force sensor