An investigation into biomimetic gripping based on insect tarsal chains

Existing robotic grippers can be highly capable in terms of precision and power, but tend to lack versatility. Over the last decades, this fact has resulted in the inception of soft grippers - systems that are softer, more compliant and - often - come without discrete joints. These properties make them more robust against uncertainties in gripping tasks, and uncontrolled environments. While soft robotics as a field has seen significant progress over the last decades, it still can’t fully match the performance of biological ystems, for which adaptation to unknown conditions is a daily necessity. It therefore stands to reason that a stronger emphasis on biomimetic approaches towards soft robotic gripping is warranted. In this work, this notion was pursued in terms of insect digits, more specifically tarsal chains and contacting structures. Based on experiments on the collective performance of different such structures as well as prior literature, a novel gripping device, called TriTrap gripper, was designed, built and tested against different everyday objects, which validated the base principle on a macroscopic scale. The results and experiences with the TriTrap gripper lead to the creation of an adapted form of insect tarsi-inspired gripping - the Douracle (Double Spiral Tencacle). This biomimetic digit combines the vadvantages of segmented, rigid tarsal chains with a continuousvstiffness approach to alleviate the shortcomings found with the Tri-Trap gripper, andvposes a logical conclusion to the avenue of research presented in this thesis. The findings in this work collectively con- tribute to the blossoming field of soft robotics and -gripping, and provide a biomimetic design to further investigate.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Year

2026

Author dc:creator

• Winand, Julian Max

Contributors dc:contributor

• Gorb, Stanislav
• Faupel, Franz

• bionics
• biomimetics
• soft gripper
• insects
• tarsal chains
• continuous stiffness

Repository record source_url

https://macau.uni-kiel.de/receive/macau_mods_00008026

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:macau.uni-kiel.de:macau_mods_00008026