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  4. Soft Pneumatic Gripper With Interchangeable Fingertips by Using Reversible Polymers: The GraspBerry, a Raspberry Picking Case Study
 
research article

Soft Pneumatic Gripper With Interchangeable Fingertips by Using Reversible Polymers: The GraspBerry, a Raspberry Picking Case Study

Furia, Francesca
•
Pagliarani, Niccolo
•
Junge, Kai  
Show more
2025
IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine

Fingerprints primarily enhance grasping by modulating friction, as the surface pattern affects the friction needed for effective grasping and manipulation. A versatile gripper was developed with a more realistic distal phalange inspired by the human index finger for improved berry gripping performance. The soft pneumatic gripper was fabricated out of a Diels-Alder–based self-healing polymer, leveraging its thermally reversible nature for introducing interchangeable fingertips. Various fingertips were developed with different patterns for optimized grasping of fruits of different shape, size, and stiffness, depending on the type of fruit, level of ripeness, and variations in weather and climate conditions of each harvest season. The fingertips can be mounted and removed easily from the distal phalange of the pneumatic finger by welding and manual disassembly. The gripper was optimized for picking raspberries, exploiting the innovative interchangeable fingertips. The same gripper could successfully harvest berries of different levels of ripeness thanks to three types of interchangeable fingertips with different patterns. The performance of the different fingertips was evaluated in the lab on a physical twin of a raspberry and a 67% success rate was obtained in the field by switching them on the spot to optimize the grasp to the different ripeness level of the berries. The GraspBerry paves the way for the design of versatile grippers with adaptable grasping performance by switching the fingertips for accurate and reliable grasp on different types of crops throughout the various harvesting seasons all year round.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1109/MRA.2025.3577167
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-105012453327

Author(s)
Furia, Francesca

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Pagliarani, Niccolo

Sant'Anna Scuola Universitaria Superiore Pisa

Junge, Kai  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Roels, Ellen

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Terryn, Seppe

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Vanderborght, Bram

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Brancart, Joost

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Hughes, Josie  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Cianchetti, Matteo

Sant'Anna Scuola Universitaria Superiore Pisa

Date Issued

2025

Published in
IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine
Subjects

Fingers

•

Grippers

•

Grasping

•

Plastics

•

Shape

•

Force

•

Finite element analysis

•

Casting

•

Automation

•

Soft robotics

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
CREATE-LAB  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

European Union (EU)

860108

European Innovation Council Transition project SHINTO

101057960

Available on Infoscience
August 20, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/253018
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