Art Meets Automotive: Design of a Curve-Adaptive Origami Gripper for Handling Textiles on Non-Planar Mold Surfaces 2024-01-2575

The handling of flexible components creates a unique problem set for pick and place automation within automotive production processes. Fabrics and woven textiles are examples of flexible components used in car interiors, for air bags, as liners and in carbon-fiber layups. These textiles differ greatly in geometry, featuring complex shapes and internal slits with varying material properties such as drape characteristics, crimp resistance, friction, and fiber weave. Being inherently flexible and deformable makes these materials difficult to handle with traditional rigid grippers. Current solutions employ adhesive, needle-based, and suction strategies, yet these systems prove a higher risk of leaving residue on the material, damaging the weave, or requiring complex assemblies. Pincer-style grippers are suitable for rigid components and offer strong gripping forces, yet inadvertently may damage the fabric, and introduce wrinkles / folded-over edges during the release process. Non-planar surfaces such as the curvature of a mold, introduce additional placement challenges. Thus, a contour-adapting end-effector able to manipulate textiles without damage is desired. This research explores the feasibility of a Miura-Origami fold for material handling. The geometric tessellation is to create a curve-fitting, self-collapsing gripper. Living hinge elements are integrated to achieve controlled compliance. Variants are built using a material extrusion additive manufacturing process. The design parameters are outlined, and a set of origami grippers are built for experimental testing. The compression forces and deflection are measured. These grippers are spring-like but exhibit some unique characteristics. More research needs to be performed to understand the merits and limitations of this gripper strategy.