Scale
Grain of sand → wallet
One design scales across sizes.
Soft robotic grippers
Robotic grippers cut from a single sheet.
Kirigami turns one simple pull into a gentle, precise grasp, with no motors or sensors at the fingertip. Cheap enough to be disposable. Gentle enough for a raspberry. Built on patented research from Boston University.
- Published
- Science Robotics (2021), Yang, Vella & Holmes
- Patented research
- US Patent 10,933,539, Boston University
- Lab
- Holmes Lab, Boston University
Technology
One pull. The cuts do the rest.
Soft grippers today usually need air lines, cables or complex controls. Kirigami is a flat sheet: cheap to make, light, and easy to add to robots people already own.
- 01
Cut
A precise pattern is laser-cut into a thin plastic sheet.
- 02
Pull
Stretching the sheet makes it buckle out of plane.
- 03
Grasp
The flaps close around an object, gently and repeatably.
What the research demonstrated
Yang, Vella & Holmes, Science Robotics (2021)
- Actuation
- One pull on the sheet, or a magnetic field (wireless)
- Control at the grip
- None. The grasp comes from the geometry of the cuts.
- Mounting
- Attached to a standard two-finger robot gripper
- Materials tested
- Thin PET plastic; silicone with iron particles (magnetic version)
- Size range
- Grain of sand to wallet
- Parallel grasping
- 24 objects in one motion (8×3 array)
- Response time
- ~60 ms (magnetic version, underwater)
- Holding force
- About 0.3–0.8 N in lab-scale tests on spheres a few millimetres across
Results
What the research has shown
Parallel
24 objectsin one motion
An 8×3 gripper array picks and places them together.
Lab footage
Speed
~60 ms
A magnet-driven version caught a falling object underwater, wirelessly.
Control
No feedback control
The grasp comes from the geometry of the cuts.
Lab footage
Results from Yang, Vella & Holmes, Science Robotics (2021).
Dual use
One mechanism. Three markets.
We’re starting where the research already shows the gripper’s strengths, and where buyers already own the robot. We make the part that touches the object.
A · Defense and public safety
Clip-on grippers for bomb-disposal and hazmat robots
Who it’s for
Military EOD units, police bomb squads, hazmat teams, nuclear and chemical site operators
Why it fits
- Fits robots teams already own. The research mounted it on a standard robot gripper.
- Handles fragile or unstable objects without crushing them.
- Cheap to replace, instead of risking a person.
- No electronics at the grip.
What we’re asking operators
What sizes and weights do your robots need to hold, and what do they drop or crush today?
B · Commercial
Gentle automation for food handling and packaging
Who it’s for
Food packaging lines, produce packers, agricultural robotics teams
Why it fits
- Delicate produce and irregular items that rigid grippers bruise or drop.
- Shown picking a raspberry without crushing it.
- An array placed 24 objects in one motion.
- Low-cost, replaceable contact parts.
What we’re asking engineers
Where do your current grippers bruise, drop or slow down product, and what does that cost per shift?
C · Biotech and life sciences
Single-use grippers for delicate biological samples
Who it’s for
Lab automation teams, cell and tissue labs, pharmacy and medical-device manufacturers
Why it fits
- Shown handling soft hydrogel spheres, one at a time and in arrays.
- Scales down to a grain of sand.
- A hand-held version picked up a medical pill.
- The paper describes the design as material-independent, so it could be cut from biocompatible films. Not yet tested.
- Cheap enough to be single-use.
What we’re asking scientists
What do you still move by hand because robots damage, drop or contaminate it?
Also exploring
Evidence tags show what the research has demonstrated so far
Underwater sampling
Ocean science teams, naval underwater vehicles
Shown in researchA magnet-driven gripper caught a falling stone underwater in about 60 ms, with no wires.
Surgical and medical tools
Medical-device and surgical teams
Early ideaLonger term. Use inside the body needs biocompatible materials, sterilization testing and FDA clearance.
Drone payloads
Delivery, inspection and sensor-drop drones
Early ideaLight and wire-free, but not yet tested on a drone.
Space
Satellite servicing and in-orbit assembly
Early ideaShips flat and weighs little. Would need space-rated materials; the paper describes the design as material-independent.
Customer conversations
Help us build the right gripper.
We’re early: building prototypes and talking with bomb-disposal teams and food automation engineers. If either describes you, we’d love 15 minutes.
We’re not selling anything yet. We want to learn where today’s grippers fail you.
- What do your robots or operators struggle to pick up today?
- What happens when a grip fails, and what does that cost?
- How often do you replace or swap grippers and end-effectors?
- What weight, size and environment would a gripper need to handle?
Book 15 minutes
Tell us a little about your work. Sophia will reply by email.
Team
Who’s building it
Sophia Wong
Founder
Electrical Engineering at Boston University. Background in EEG hardware and signal processing; research at Harvard’s Kempner Institute and UC Davis. Previously at XiberLinc, a Berkeley SkyDeck startup. Incoming Amazon SDE Intern.
Working with the Holmes Lab at Boston University.