Abstract

ABSTRACT Soft grippers have been developed for handling a diverse array of objects, particularly excelling in grasping deformable and soft food items due to their soft and flexible nature, which is essential for preventing damage. However, the development of soft grippers capable of operating at extremely high speeds, typically achieving a pick‐and‐place cycle in less than 1 s, remains underexplored. Addressing this gap, this study proposes a pneumatic soft gripper designed for the high‐speed handling of breadcrumb‐coated oysters and demonstrates its feasibility for application in food production lines. The proposed gripper consists of two soft fingers and a soft cushion positioned between them. The geometries of the soft fingers and the cushion were meticulously designed to securely contain the oyster. Finite element analysis (FEA) was employed to investigate the effects of gripper stiffness on the swaying motion, stress, and deformation experienced by the grasped soft object under high acceleration. The fabrication of the soft finger and cushion was accomplished using a liquid silicone 3D printer, and the durability of the soft finger was confirmed to exceed 1.6 million cycles, comparable to that of a suction pad. Food compatibility tests were conducted to ensure the suitability for handling food products. Feasibility tests on the automatic packaging of breadcrumb‐coated oysters were performed using a parallel robot, examining five operating speeds, two applied pressures, and three oyster orientations. The results indicated that the proposed soft gripper could achieve maximum operational speeds of approximately 90 oysters/min for 16 g oysters and 80 oysters/min for 40 g oysters, thereby outperforming human workers and a commercial soft gripper. Through FEA and packaging experiments, it was determined that there exists an optimal stiffness for the soft gripper when handling the breadcrumb‐coated oysters under high acceleration.