Hardware

Soft Gripper

A soft gripper is an end-effector that grasps using compliant materials and structures — pneumatic elastomer fingers, fin-ray-effect flexures, or granular jamming bags — which passively conform to object geometry instead of relying on precise finger placement. Compliance provides tolerance to pose uncertainty and gentle handling of fragile or irregular items such as produce and baked goods. Trade-offs include limited payload, imprecise in-hand positioning, and difficulty modeling contact.

Why it matters for physical AI

Passive conformity converts perception error into successful grasps for free, which is why soft end-effectors dominate food handling and complement learned grasp policies on hard-to-model objects.