Controlling the gripping force on fragile objects has been a challenging task for industrial grippers. The solution often requires an electric gripper with embedded force sensors and control feedback. This approach is costly and leads to extra gripper complexity. To avoid damage while handling fragile objects, this paper presents a novel force regulation mechanism (FRM) to be installed on pneumatic grippers. Without using additional sensors and control, the FRM can passively produce an adjustable contact force between the gripper jaws and objects of various sizes. Together with pneumatic grippers that have a higher gripping speed, lower cost, and simpler structure, this approach offers a more attractive solution than the use of electric grippers. In this paper, the design and analysis of the FRM are presented. A prototype of the FRM is illustrated to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of force regulation. This novel mechanism is expected to serve as a reliable alternative for fragile object manipulation. Note to Practitioners-Pneumatic grippers are popular due to their low cost and simple structure. However, it is difficult to control the gripping force to handle fragile objects without damage. The FRM has a small size and can be easily installed on pneumatic grippers to provide fast force regulation. The gripping force depends on axial preload of the FRM rather than air pressure of the gripper. Axial preload is passively regulated using a screw or spacer. No additional source of power or sensor is required. The FRM has a large force adjustment range and can grip objects of various sizes using the same force. Applications include the automation in electronics, food, agricultural, and medical industries.

中文翻译：

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使用气动夹具高速搬运易碎物体的精确力调节机制


对于工业夹具来说，控制易碎物体的抓取力一直是一项具有挑战性的任务。该解决方案通常需要带有嵌入式力传感器和控制反馈的电动夹具。这种方法成本高昂，并且导致夹具额外复杂。为了避免在处理易碎物体时造成损坏，本文提出了一种安装在气动夹具上的新型力调节机构（FRM）。无需使用额外的传感器和控制装置，FRM 就可以在夹爪和各种尺寸的物体之间被动地产生可调节的接触力。与具有更高抓取速度、更低成本和更简单结构的气动夹具一起，这种方法提供了比使用电动夹具更有吸引力的解决方案。本文介绍了FRM的设计和分析。通过 FRM 原型来演示力调节的有效性和准确性。这种新颖的机制有望成为脆弱对象操作的可靠替代方案。从业人员须知——气动夹具因其成本低、结构简单而广受欢迎。然而，控制夹持力以在不损坏易碎物品的情况下处理易碎物品是很困难的。 FRM 尺寸小，可以轻松安装在气动夹具上，以提供快速的力调节。夹持力取决于 FRM 的轴向预紧力，而不是夹具的气压。使用螺钉或垫片被动调节轴向预载。不需要额外的电源或传感器。 FRM的力调节范围大，可以用相同的力夹持各种尺寸的物体。应用包括电子、食品、农业和医疗行业的自动化。