Design of parts handling and gear assembling device

Abstract

Many one-degree-of-freedom (1-DOF) grippers have been used in factories. This paper focuses on the design of the 1-DOF parts handling device for picking up small objects robustly and agilely and realizing assembly tasks. In our conventional research, we proposed a concept for the handling device, which cages an object without letting the object escape from its tips before closing them completely and then grasps the object robustly at a unique position of the tips. In this paper, we propose a method for designing the shape of the device's tips by considering not only the caging and self-alignment of the object but also the gear assembly task. We also develop the robust and agile pick-up device (RAPiD) with tips designed by the new method and present experimental results that illustrate the ability of RAPiD to handle and assemble gears. © 2012 IEEE.