Robotic Gripper

This is a simple robotic end effector modeled after the Aluminum Sparkfun Robot Claw. The effector uses a parallogram design so the effector grips stay parallel at all times. The design has an impressive opening range. I have included the Inventor file so you can make changes; just show one "body" at a time and export so you get individual STL files.

I just needed something simple to hold and drop things on command. If you wanted to use this to pickup objects, then the effector tip (Clamp) should be made thicker or at least into a cross; I just dipped mine in rubber cement and that was good enough.

The servo is a Tower Pro SG90; you can pick these up at Amazon or E-Bay. They are very light and small, but they have a lot of jitter - for a more serious project, I would change the opening to use an E-flite S60 or for more strength something larger. In order to combat the jitter, I just turn off the servo after a move is completed, but that won't work if you're lifting something and need to continually grip it.

Initially, I tried to get away with struts just on the front/top; however, the gripper didn't align very well on closing; adding struts on the back made the design much more stable.

All the bolts are 0.5 inch #4-40; I used a bit of red thread lock on the nuts to keep them from loosening during use. Between the various layers, I added teflon/PTFE washers (B006GHXLWA) available on Amazon.

Front View: https://youtu.be/qHRINylgXGA
Back View: https://youtu.be/muxDoD2NcbI