Development of universal robot gripper using MRα fluid

We developed a smart magnetic fluid called MRα fluid. The specific gravity of the developed fluid is half and its solidification hardness is twice that of MR fluid. In this paper, the characteristics of the MRα fluid and an application that can control solidification under a magnetic field are described. Further, we developed a novel robot gripper using MRα fluid, and several experimental results investigating the features and capabilities of the gripper are presented.