INTACT-GRIP: An Inflatable Tactile Gripper for Soft Manipulation and High-Resolution Texture Mapping
Ozdemir Can Kara, Mohammad Rafiee Javazm, Omid Rezayof, Farshid Alambeigi
AI summary
Problem
Traditional rigid grippers damage delicate items, while existing soft grippers lack integrated tactile sensing, and conventional vision-based tactile sensors lack active shape and stiffness adaptation for complex geometries.
Approach
The system integrates inflatable silicone balloons with embedded cameras and LEDs to create pressure-modulatable fingertips that conform to object contours while capturing high-resolution texture maps in real time.
Key results
- Captures high-resolution surface textures (down to 0.7 mm features) across objects of varying stiffness
- Demonstrates a tunable trade-off between grasp stability and tactile image clarity via inflation pressure control
- Enables safe, damage-free grasping of fragile and irregularly shaped objects like strawberries and water bottles
- Successfully integrates with a KUKA robotic arm for real-time visual-tactile feedback during manipulation tasks
Why it matters
Bridges the gap between compliant grasping and high-resolution tactile perception, offering a practical solution for handling delicate objects in unstructured environments.
Abstract
Robotic manipulation, especially of fragile and irregularly shaped objects, remains a significant challenge due to the need for both adaptability and precise tactile feedback. In this work, we introduce INTACT-GRIP, a robotic gripper that combines soft manipulation and high-resolution tactile sensing for inflation-based soft grasping. INTACT-GRIP integrates inflatable balloons with vision-based tactile feedback, enabling fingertip stiffness modulation for stable and damage- free manipulation of fragile and irregularly shaped objects. To evaluate its performance, we conducted a series of qualitative and quantitative experiments. In these experiments, inflation pressure was manually controlled by a human operator, who adjusted and stopped the pressure based on real-time vi- sual feedback of the captured texture features. The results demonstrate the system’s ability to safely conform to fragile and irregularly shaped objects with varying stiffness, enabling pressure-controlled grasping and high-resolution tactile imaging during contact. Furthermore, a case study with a robotic arm highlighted the system’s potential as a versatile solution for precise and soft manipulation of delicate objects, supported by pressure-adjustable fingertips and real-time visual–tactile feedback.