Design of Grip-and-Move Manipulators Using Symmetric Path Generating Compliant Mechanisms

Abstract

This paper presents the problem formulation and design of compliant grip-and-move manipulators. Each manipulator is composed of two identical path generating compliant mechanisms such that it can grip an object and convey it from one point to another. The integration of both gripping and moving behaviors within a simple mechanism is accomplished by the use of compliant mechanisms, which generate paths that are symmetric. The automated synthesis of these symmetric path generating mechanisms is by a structural topology optimization approach. The problem of topology optimization of continuum structures is solved using a multiobjective genetic algorithm coupled with a morphological representation of geometry that efficiently defines the variable structural geometry upon a finite element grid. A graph-theoretic chromosome encoding together with compatible crossover and mutation operators are then applied to form an effective evolutionary optimization procedure. Two designs have been created and are presented in this paper, and some concluding remarks and future work are put forward.