Design of Soft Robotic Grippers for Dexterous Manipulation in the Tasks of Daily Living

This honors thesis project aims to design and develop the ideal design for a soft robotic grasper used in combination with a robotic supernumerary limb design for impaired individuals (i.e. a wearable robotic limb that branches out of the body), to help accomplish the tasks of daily living. Observations of current grasper solutions for similar applications has led to a design that incorporates a soft, pneumatically controlled grasper which integrates with the existing limb. Computational models of the grasper design have been created which demonstrate the grasping capabilities of this proposal. Initial prototypes of this grasper approach have been fabricated for testing and analyses purposes to build a foundation for future implementation.