Development of an electro-adhesive hand with the function of contact and slip detection

In this study, Electro-Adhesive Gel Sheet (EAGS) was attached to a robot hand and used as a gripper. Electro-Adhesive Gel (EAG) is a functional elastomer which can change surface adhesiveness depending on an electric field. EAGS is a sheet of EAG fabricated on a flexible electrode substrate. It is confirmed that the electrical current flow inside EAGS is changed when the robot hand with EAGS (EA hand) touches a grounded metal object or slips on it. By applying these current characteristics, the applicability of contact detection and slip detection is investigated to monitor gripping status in robot hand. From the results, EA hand can detect not only the contact but also lifting the object from the base plate. Furthermore, slipping can be suppressed by adjusting an applied potential difference of the electrodes according to the slip detection.