To overcome disadvantages of traditional grippers in more transmission chains

high energy consumption and complex structures

a flexible gripper using a type of smart material called Ionic Polymer-metal Composite（IPMC）was designed and manufactured.By using the Pro/E software to design the main structure of the IPMC gripper and to analyze its movement procedure

the whole IPMC gripper was assembled successfully.Furthermore

utilizing a type of laser displacement sensor

an electronic precision scale and a Canon digital camera

the tip displacement

tip force and average velocity of the four actuating IPMC membranes fabricated by ourselves for the gripper were tested

and then the data were sampled and analyzed by the Labview test system. Experimental results demonstrate that the turning angle of one IPMC actuating sample is over 180° within 3 V (when the voltage changes from -3 V to +3 V)

the maximum tip displacement is approximately equal to its own length (except the fixed end)

and this gripper can grasp an object whose weight is about 1.6 g (the mass of each sample with water is about 500 mg). These results show that the flexible gripper has advantages in simple structure

large deformation and low energy consumption

etc.. Moreover

due to the flexibility of IPMC strips

the gripper do not damages the precision of the object’s surface because they can attach to the surface completely. Therefore

it is beneficial to grasping the object with high surface precision.