(Note: The picture on the right shows the fins mounted directly onto the jaws of the Kuka youBot. This was just a preliminary test and we realized the importance of the scissor-like motion, since otherwise we could only grasp very small objects due to the short travel of the parallel fingers).
I am starting to explore flexible 3D printing filaments for my masters thesis and was looking for a project. From what I had seen so far, the Taulman PCTPE filament would be excellent for replicating the Festo Fin type gripper.
You can see the animated assembly below. All parts were 3D printed in ABS, with the exception of the fins which were printed in PCTPE. The prints were made on a glass bed using my Tevo Tarantula 3d Printer. Everything was designed using OnShape.
Here you can see how the 3D printed fin behaves when deformed.
UPDATE (October 2018): I just realized that Festo have now made the fins open source and the CAD files can be found here (http://www.youbot-store.com/developers/soft-two-finger-gripper-75). It was a fun project and do not consider this time wasted, even if it turns out I was reinventing the wheel.
