A reconfigurable dexterous gripper is designed which can switch states, including rigidity and flexibility, for different application scenarios. Moreover, the stiffness of the fingers in the flexible state can also be tuned for different objects. Three fingers are connected to the revolute joints of the palm, and each finger has a reshape mechanism with a slider moving up and down to lock or release the fingertip joint. When the slider moves upward, the gripper works in the rigid state and the fingers are actuated by the servos. When the slider moves downward, the gripper works in the flexible state that the fingertip is supported by a spring, and the fingertip joint is rotated by an embedded motor with two group cables for tuning stiffness. This novel design provides the gripper with the advantages of high precision and strong load capacity of rigid grippers and shape adaptability and safety of soft grippers. The reconfigurable mechanism allows the gripper great versatility for grasping and manipulation, which facilitates the planning and execution of the motion of objects with different shapes and stiffness. We discuss the stiffness-tunable mechanism with different states, analyze the kinematic characteristics, and test the manipulator performance to investigate the application in rigid-flexible collaborative works. Experimental results show the practicability of this gripper under different requirements and the rationality of this proposed concept.

中文翻译：

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具有可重构指关节的可变刚度夹具，可进行多种操作。

设计了一种可重构的灵巧夹具，可以针对不同的应用场景切换刚性和柔性状态。而且，手指在柔性状态下的刚度也可以针对不同的物体进行调整。三个手指连接到手掌的旋转关节，每个手指都有一个重塑机制，滑块上下移动以锁定或释放指尖关节。当滑块向上移动时，夹具工作在刚性状态，手指由伺服系统驱动。当滑块向下移动时，夹爪工作在指尖由弹簧支撑的柔性状态，通过内嵌电机和两组电缆调节指尖关节的刚度。这种新颖的设计使机械手具有刚性机械手的高精度、负载能力强和软体机械手的形状适应性和安全性的优点。可重构的机构使夹具具有强大的抓取和操纵多功能性，这有助于规划和执行具有不同形状和刚度的物体的运动。我们讨论了不同状态下的刚度可调机构，分析了运动学特性，并测试了机械臂性能，以研究其在刚柔协同工作中的应用。实验结果表明了该夹具在不同要求下的实用性以及所提出概念的合理性。