An energy-based model of soft robot grippers realizing design and prediction of multistable configuration under open loop control

Soft robotics and soft robots are gaining popularity these days due to their advantage like adaptability. Multistable structure, a special structure that can stay stable under more than one state, provides people with the capacity of the researching open-loop control method in the domain of robotics. Thus, the characteristics of multistable structure can benefit the design and simplify the control of robots. This article introduces an energy-based analytical model for soft multistable grippers. It can design the configuration of the gripper, predict its stable states and set the force of grasping action and this model can save much time spent on calculation comparing to traditional method of Finite Element (FE) simulations under a sufficiently low error rate. The idea of topology, certain algorithms and simulations are applied and experiments are also conducted later to certify the feasibility and accuracy of this model. This elaborate model is a new inspiration for soft robotics.