Printable Hand Heads: Zhongkui Wang Contact: Zhongkui Wang Date: 2016 - Mailing address: Dept. Robotics, Ritsumeikan Univ. Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577, Japan Supported by: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No.15H02230) 2015 - 2017 (Shinichi Hirai) Dynamics and Tribology of Soft Tissues in Tactile Perception Associated lab/group:

Project Description

We will apply a 3D printer that can print soft materials to fabricate soft robotic hands with their application to soft object handling.

2019/7/11	Received AP Award (visitors' evaluation) at International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition.
2019/3/1	Soft grippers were introduced in March issue of magazine "Production Goods Marketing".
2019/2/1	Soft grippers were introduced in February issue of magazine "Production Goods Marketing".
2018/12/13	Dempa Shimbun Daily introduced our soft gripper in its article "Handling Food Materials".
2018/12/12	The Kyoto Shimbun introduced our soft gripper in its article "Soft Robots gentle to Human".
2018/11/26	Nippon Keizai Shimbun introduced our soft gripper in its article "Robots for Packing Food to Box Lunches".
2018/10/3	Introducing Private University Research Branding Project of MEXT Soft materials bring robotic research to a new level
2018/8/30-8/31	Professor Wang demonstrated "Pneumatically Driven Soft Robot Gripper Capable of Gentle Gripping and Its Automation System Based on ROS" at Innovation Japan 2018.
2018/8/3	Dr. Wang received Best Paper Award on Robotics by A Soft Gripper with Adjustable Stiffness and Variable Working Length for Handling Food Material.
2018/6/14	Received AP Award Grand Prix at International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition.
2018/6/12-6/15	Introducing printable hand, prestretched-finger hand, and binding hand at FOOMA 2018 Acadamic Plaza, with demonstration of ROS-based robotic handlnig system.
2018/6/12	Our research on soft robotics was introduced in an article of Kanjuku Times, a magazine of Kanjuku school.
2018/1/28	Soft hand research was introduced in TV program "Galileo X" of BS Fuji channel.
2018/1/16	Soft hand research was introduced at web magazine "almost 0 yen university".
2017/12/13	Dr. Matsuno was nominated to Finalist for Best Conference Paper Award in SII 2017 held at Taipei.
2017/12/8	The 3rd meeting of RSJ Special Interest Group on Soft Robotics (SIG SoRo Japan)
2017/11/29-12/2	Demonstrating soft grippers and micro pneumatic valves at International Robot Exhibition
2017/11/16	"Soft Robotic Hands for Food Material Handling" at FOOMA 1Day Special Lectures
2017/10/20	Invited Presentation Soft Robotics for Locomotion and Manipulation in Special Session Soft Robotics at 17th Int. Conf. on Control, Automation and Systems (ICCAS 2017).
2017/8/10	World Business Satellite Japan (TV Tokyo) introduced our research on food modeling and printable hands.
2017/7/15	Dr. Matsuno was nominated to IEEE RCAR 2017 Best Conference Paper Finalist by Real-time Curvature Estimation of Printable Soft Gripper using Electro-conductive Yarn.
2017/6/15	Received AP Award Grand Prix at International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition. (Univ. web page)
2017/6/13-6/16	Demonstrating Soft Robotic Hands for Food Material Handling at International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition
2017/4/30	Asahi Shimbun introdiced our soft robotics research in Door to Science.
2017/4/3	Dr. Wang's proposal for Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research "Establishment of basic design principle of pneumatically driven soft actuator" was accepted.
2017/3/14	Introduced a 3D printer Objet 350 Connex 3 (Stratasys Ltd.), which can apply three different materials and print a soft part using rubber-like material.

Soft finger deforming

Three soft finger designs

Food grasping via soft gripper

Personnel

	Name	Title	Degree
	Zhongkui Wang	Ritsumeikan University	Ph.D
	Tanaka Hajime	Graduated	Master of Eng.
	Nur Aliaa Binti Hamzah	Graduated
	Yuuki Torigoe	Graduated

Publications

• Sachin, Zhongkui Wang, and Shinichi Hirai, Analytical Modeling of a Soft Pneu-Net Actuator Subjected to Planar Tip Contact, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol.38, No.5, pp.2720-2733, 10.1109/TRO.2022.3160048, Oct., 2022
• Zhongkui Wang, Keung Or, and Shinichi Hirai, A dual-mode soft gripper for food packaging, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Vol.125, 10.1016/j.robot.2020.103427, Mar., 2020
• Zhongkui Wang and Shinichi Hirai, Soft Gripper Dynamics Using a Line-Segment Model with an Optimization-Based Parameter Identification Method, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol.2, Issue 2, pp.624-631, 10.1109/LRA.2017.2650149, Jan., 2017
• Zhongkui Wang, Yuuki Torigoe, and Shinichi Hirai, A Prestressed Soft Gripper: Design, Modeling, Fabrication, and Tests for Food Handling, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol.2, Issue 4, pp.1909-1916, 10.1109/LRA.2017.2714141, Oct., 2017
• Zhongkui Wang, Mingzhu Zhu, Sadao Kawamura and Shinichi Hirai, Comparison of different soft grippers for lunch box packaging, Robotics and Biomimetics, Vol.4, No.10, 10.1186/s40638-017-0067-1, Nov., 2017
• Takahiro Matsuno, Zhongkui Wang, and Shinichi Hirai, Grasping state estimation of printable soft gripper using electro-conductive yarn, Robotics and Biomimetics, Vol.4, No.13, 10.1186/s40638-017-0072-4, Dec., 2017

• Maryam Tebyani, Ash Robbins, William Asper, Sri Kurniawan, Mircea Teodorescu, Zhongkui Wang, and Shinichi Hirai, 3D Printing an Assembled Biomimetic Robotic Finger, 2020 17th Int. Conf. on Ubiquitous Robots (UR 2020), pp.526-532, 10.1109/UR49135.2020.9144774, online, June 22-26, 2020   Best Paper Award
• Takahiro Matsuno and Shinichi Hirai, Grasping Force Measurable Soft Finger Using Electro Conductive Material, 2019 IEEE/SICE Int. Symp. on System Integration (SII), pp.683-688, 10.1109/SII.2019.8700361, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France, Jan. 14-16, 2019
• Zhongkui Wang and Shinichi Hirai, Chamber Dimension Optimization of a Bellow-Type Soft Actuator for Food Material Handling, The First IEEE-RAS Int. Conf. on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2018), Grand Hotel Palazzo, Livorno, Italy, Apr. 24-28, 2018
• Zhongkui Wang and Shinichi Hirai, A Soft Gripper with Adjustable Stiffness and Variable Working Length for Handling Food Material, 2018 IEEE Int. Conf. on Real-time Computing and Robotics (IEEE RCAR 2018), Smoked Grill House in Kandima Maldives, Dhaalu Atoll, Republic of Maldives, Aug. 1-5, 2018   Best Paper Award on Robotics
• Zhongkui Wang and Shinichi Hirai, Geometry and Material Optimization of A Soft Pneumatic Gripper for Handling Deformable Object, 2018 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Biomimetics (IEEE ROBIO 2018), Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec. 12-15, 2018
• Zhongkui Wang and Shinichi Hirai, Soft Gripper Dynamics Using a Line-Segment Model with Optimization-Based Parameter Identification Method, 2017 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2017), 10.1109/LRA.2017.2650149, Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore, May 29 - June 3, 2017
• Takahiro Matsuno, Zhongkui Wang, and Shinichi Hirai, Real-time Curvature Estimation of Printable Soft Gripper using Electro-conductive Yarn, 2017 IEEE Int. Conf. on Real-time Computing and Robotics (IEEE RCAR 2017), pp.5-10, 10.1109/RCAR.2017.8311827, Southern Beach Hotel & Resort Okinawa, Itoman, Japan, July 14-18, 2017   Best Conference Paper Finalist
• Zhongkui Wang, Mingzhu Zhu, Sadao Kawamura, and Shinichi Hirai, Fabrication and Performance Comparison of Different Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Lunch Box Packaging, 2017 IEEE Int. Conf. on Real-time Computing and Robotics (IEEE RCAR 2017), pp.22-27, 10.1109/RCAR.2017.8311830, Southern Beach Hotel & Resort Okinawa, Itoman, Japan, July 14-18, 2017
• Zhongkui Wang and Shinichi Hirai, A Prestressed Soft Gripper: Design, Modeling, Fabrication, and Tests for Food Handling, 2017 IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2017), 10.1109/LRA.2017.2714141, Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Sept. 24-28, 2017
• Mingzhu Zhu, Wang Zhongkui, Sadao Kawamura and Shinichi Hirai, Design and Fabrication of a Soft-bodied Gripper with Integrated Curvature Sensors, 2017 IEEE 24th Int. Conf. on Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice (M2VIP2017), 10.1109/M2VIP.2017.8211521, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, Nov. 21-23, 2017   Best Paper Award
• Zhongkui Wang, Damith Suresh Chathuranga, and Shinichi Hirai, 3D Printed Soft Gripper for Automatic Lunch Box Packing, 2016 IEEE Conf. on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO 2016), pp.503-508, 10.1109/ROBIO.2016.7866372, Shangri-La Hotel, Qingdao, China, Dec. 3-7, 2016
• Zhongkui Wang and Shinichi Hirai, A 3D Printed Soft Gripper Integrated with Curvature Sensor for Studying Soft Grasping, Proc. 2016 IEEE/SICE Int. Symp. on System Integration (SII 2016), pp.629-633, 10.1109/SII.2016.7844069, Sapporo Convention Center, Sapporo, Japan, Dec. 13-15, 2016

• Shinichi Hirai, Soft Robotic Approach to Food Material Manipulation, Workshop on Robotic Food Manipulation (IEEE-RAS Int. Conf. on Humanoid Robots), Hilton Toronto, Toronto, Canada, Oct. 15-17, 2019
• Zhongkui Wang and Shinichi Hirai, Soft Robotic Gripper for Packaging of Japanese Lunch Box, 13th Joint Workshop on Machine Perception and Robotics (MPR2017), Lee Shau Kee Institute of Humanities, Peking University, China, Oct. 16-17, 2017
• Takahiro Matusno, Zhongkui Wang, and Shinichi Hirai, Grasping State Sensing of Soft Gripper for Food Handling, 13th Joint Workshop on Machine Perception and Robotics (MPR2017), Lee Shau Kee Institute of Humanities, Peking University, China, Oct. 16-17, 2017
• Zhongkui Wang and Shinichi Hirai, A 3D Printed Soft Gripper and Its Application for Lunch Box Packing, 12th Joint Workshop on Machine Perception and Robotics (MPR2016), Osaka Ibaraki Campus (OIC), Ritsumeikan University, Japan, Nov. 11-14, 2016

Notes

Album	A printable hand picking up a bread	A printable hand picking up a piece of salmon	Packing food materials into a lunch box	Uniform chamber distribution
Uniform chamber distribution	Non-uniform chamber distribution	Non-uniform chamber distribution	Multi-material finger	Multi-material finger
Printable hand grasping cup

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