Finite Element Analysis of Lightweight Robot Fingers Actuated by Pneumatic Pressure

Abstract

The robot end effectors are triggered by different modes of power, namely electrical, pneumatic, electromagnetic, adhesive and hydraulic. Handling the low-strength components by using the industrial grippers is the vital challenging routine in production units. This paper follows the recent work such that the optimal robot hand is fabricated to perform several operations. The optimal robot finger dimension is taken from the existing work, and the 3D model of the robot finger is analysed by numerical simulation using finite element software. The performance of the robotic gripper is analysed and their behaviour is predicted using FEA package. The robot finger is actuated by pneumatic mode, and this type is used to grasp the lightweight products effectively. The maximum deformation and principal stress of the robot finger with respect to the different pneumatic pressures are analysed. The maximum deformation is found to be 26.9 mm at the actuator tip and the maximum principal stress is observed as 5.13 MPa at pneumatic chamber top portion under 0.3 MPa pressure. The regression analysis is done for the various values of deformation corresponding to the input pneumatic pressure on the robot finger.