Transporting Dispersed Cylindrical Granules: An Intelligent Strategy Inspired by an Elephant Trunk

Abstract

Manipulating granular materials is a crucial function of robotic grippers. However, the existing approaches always suffer from low efficiency when dealing with large quantities of dispersed granules. To overcome this challenge, inspiration is drawn from an African elephant (Loxodonta Africana), which can employ both fingertip extensions on the trunk tip to efficiently grasp dispersed granular food all at once by mediating state transition of granules. Herein, this bio‐inspired intelligent strategy is integrated into a soft pneumatic gripper for transporting dispersed granules. To evaluate the critical actuation pressures while grasping granules, a library is constructed experimentally, and the effects of the initial relative height and relative lifting speed on the grasping success rate are examined. It is indicated in the experimental results that this trunk‐inspired robotic strategy leads to a success rate of over 90% and saves ≈50% duration of manipulation compared to the individual gripping fashion. Herein, new insights may be offered in this study into a novel manipulation strategy for efficiently transporting dispersed granular materials.