Integration of Thermoresponsive Velcro-like Adhesive for Soft Robotic Grasping of Fabrics or Smooth Surfaces

We present a novel design of soft gripper, which can be applied on smooth surfaces like glass as well as the fabric materials through the integration of a thermoresponsive microstructured adhesive layer that switches between Velcro-like and gecko-like adhesion mechanisms. A shape memory polymer (SMP) is integrated along with metallic foil heaters, thin film polyester strain limiting layers, and a silicone pneunet via simple but effective methods. Fabrication can be done outside a cleanroom with low cost and integration of silicone bonded directly to rigid thermoplastics is dramatically simplified using an industrial silicone adhesive that bonds many rigid polymers and metals to silicone rubbers. Experiments show that the gripper can be switched to exhibit high adhesion to a bare glass beaker or a fabric coated beaker of the same diameter using the thermoresponsive Velcro-like adhesive layer and an embedded thin film heater.