University of Cambridge researchers have developed a self-healing robotic gripper for soft robots.

The gripper features a self-healing elastomer deformable membrane. According to its developers, the elastomer can heal itself from macroscopic damages — scratches and punctures, for instance — inflicted by sharp objects and surfaces. Meanwhile, a pressure sensor within the robotic gripper serves as an early warning system for damage detection.

Source: University of Cambridge

Further, the autonomous integrated heating can reportedly enable rapid healing in under 10 minutes at a temperature of 70° C.

To enable this, the elastomer self-healing membrane contains highly conductive steel balls enclosed within that maximize heat transfer to encourage the autonomous healing process.

"The self-healing polymer that we have used for our soft gripper has excellent mechanical strength, an adaptive grasp and is resilient to damage," the researchers explained. "Where damage is too large to heal, we have designed a gripper with high recycling potential, one that can be completely melted down, reprocessed and reshaped into a new gripper — presenting a sustainable option for universal grippers and soft robotics in general in the future."

An article detailing the robotic gripper, “Self‐Regulated Self‐Healing Robotic Gripper for Resilient and Adaptive Grasping,” appears in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems.

For more on the robotic gripper, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of the University of Cambridge.