Soft Origami Gripper with Variable Effective Length

Nature has evolved to shape morphing to adapt to complex environments while engaging with the surroundings. Inspired by this capability, robots are expected to be endowed with the ability to perform shape‐changing, thus interacting with complex environments. Herein, a soft origami actuator with variable effective length (VEL) is proposed to adapt to different objects. The actuator's VEL is realized by an origami structure and actuated by hybrid actuation of tendons and pneumatic pressure. The soft actuator yields motion combining both elongation and bending generated by the asymmetric Yorshimura origami structure. Then an adaptive gripper composed of four origami actuators with programmable effective length is fabricated and its effect on grasping performance is evaluated through both simulations and experiments. Results show that the gripper can grip objects of different shapes, weights, sizes, and textures. This research may shed light on a new soft gripper design using origami structure for the environment's self‐adaptability.