Development of Small-Scale Pneumatic Pump Module for Hybrid Gripper with Jamming Module

Owing to an increase in diverse disaster incidents instigated by natural catastrophes and human error, extensive research on mobile robots, designed for disaster environment comprehension and human rescue operations, and has become more prevalent. Specifically, endeavors are being undertaken to equip mobile robots with grippers, enabling confined space navigation and life-saving activities within disastrous circumstances. Prominent among these are investigations into hybrid grippers and actuation systems, utilizing both hard and soft materials for obstacle removal. Nevertheless, for effective deployment of mobile robots within real disaster scenarios, the necessity for a compact hybrid gripper and drive system is indispensable. This paper elucidates the design and realization of a small-scale pneumatic pump module, developed to operate the jamming module of the previously compactly implemented hybrid gripper, also incorporating discussions on performance validation experiments. The verification experiments confirmed the capability of the proposed small-scale pneumatic pump to adequately operate the jamming module, thus reinforcing the hybrid gripper's grasping performance.