Design and planning of a novel modular end-effector for agile assembly

We present a design of end-effector that is flexible enough to be able to manipulate a variety of objects in assembly tasks. Modularity and reconfigurability will be a unifying trait of this design. As a result, the grasp stability is improved and the total grasp force is reduced by adding the extra side contact constraints. At the same time we present a complete grasp planning algorithm for the end-effector. The grasp planning algorithm, based on a generate and test paradigm, enumerates grasp configurations. Candidate grasp configurations are generated using heuristics. The test phase involves checking each simultaneous contact configuration for force closure. The resulting grasp configurations are then examined for stability