[Tyler]

Coffee Ground Filled Balloon Gripper Holds Promise
     






The age-old problem of creating a robotic gripper capable of grasping
unusually shaped objects has advanced one more step with this
interesting development from researchers at Cornell, the University of
Chicago and iRobot Corp.
The
Universal Gripper as they call it consists of a balloon filled with
a jam-able particulate.  When the balloon comes in contact with an
object it conforms easily, then when a vacuum is applied, the
particulates interlock providing the grasping action.
Early material included rice and ground-up tires, but coffee seems to
work really well.
Video


   

http://robots.net/article/3067.html