64 are disposed on opposing sides of the central finger 62 in the longitudinal direction (i.e., in the +/−X direction). The plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may include any operable number of adjoining fingers 64 such as, for example, one, two, three, four, or more than four. The number of adjoining fingers 64 may be equivalent to the number of lateral slots 52 in the mounting base 20.

The plurality of flexible membranes 66 may extend between and couple adjacent fingers between the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 to join or couple the movement of the central finger 62 to the plurality of adjoining fingers 64. Further, in embodiments with additional adjoining fingers, the plurality of flexible membranes 66 may extend between the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 and the additional adjoining fingers. The plurality of flexible membranes 66 may movably couple the central finger 62 to the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 to coordinate movement between the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 with the displacement of the central finger 62 in the lateral direction (i.e., in the +/−Y direction).

The flexible membranes 66 may extend between and be coupled to the pair of side edges 84 of the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64. Each of the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may include multiple flexible membranes 66 arranged along the pair of side edges 84 of the central finger 62 and the adjacent finger of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64. The plurality of flexible membranes 66 may include any operable number of flexible membranes 66 for transferring motion from the central finger 62 to each one of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64. For example, the plurality of flexible membranes 66 may include any number of flexible membranes based on a number of factors including a height of the plurality of fingers 22, the desired amount of movement and speed of the movement, and the like, such that there may be one, two, three, four, five, or more than five flexible membranes between the central finger 62 and each adjacent finger of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64. The plurality of flexible membranes 66 may be formed of a flexible or resilient material, such as rubber, a plastic, or the like. Further, the plurality of flexible membranes 66 may be a mesh material or other suitable material that allows movement of the plurality of flexible membranes 66 between a resting state, as best illustrated in FIG. 4, and an expanded state, as best illustrated in FIG. 5.

Referring still to FIGS. 1-5, the biasing member 68 may include an elongated body 94 and a plurality of prongs 96 extending from the elongated body 94. The elongated body 94 of the biasing member 68 may extend between each of the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64. The plurality of prongs 96 may each be spaced apart from the adjacent prongs 96 in the longitudinal direction (i.e., in the +/−X direction) and each may extend in a direction away from the elongated body 94 in the lateral direction (i.e., in the +/−Y direction). As such, the number of prongs of the plurality of prongs 96 may depend on the number of plurality of fingers 22. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 1, there are three fingers (e.g., the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 are a pair of fingers) and the biasing member 68 may include three prongs as the plurality of prongs 96. Further, each of the plurality of prongs 96 may taper from body end 98a to a terminating end 98b in which the body end 98a is in contact with the elongated body 94. Each of the plurality of prongs 96 may include openings 99 that are each configured to receive one of the fasteners 63, 65, 70, 92, as discussed in greater detail herein and as best illustrated in FIG. 3.

The biasing member 68 may be rigidly coupled to each of the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 to be positioned above the bottom portion 74 in the vertical direction (i.e., in the +/−Z direction). Further, each of the prongs 96 may be positioned between the contact portion 76 and the spine 78 of the respective finger of the set of fingers 22 (e.g., the elongated body 94 abuts the contact portion 76 and the terminating end 98b abuts the spine 78), and is positioned to be in contact with an inner surface 97 of the bottom portion 74. In other embodiments, each of the prongs 96 may be coupled to the respective fingers 22 via a press fit, adhesive, welding, epoxy, or the like. The biasing member 68 may be formed of a flexible material to allow the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 to pivot and move relative to the central finger 62 when a force is applied to the contact surface 82 of the contact portion 76, as discussed in greater detail herein. For example, the biasing member 68 may be a polycarbonate, polyethylene, kydex, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polystyrene, polyether ether ketone, and/or the like.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, the plurality of fingers 22 may move between an un-deformed position, as best illustrated in FIG. 4, and a deformed position, as best illustrated in FIG. 5. In the un-deformed position, each of the contact surfaces 82 of the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may be coplanar. A force exerted on the contact surface 82 of the plurality of fingers 22 transitions or moves the plurality of fingers 22 between the un-deformed position and the deformed position. As best illustrated in FIG. 5, an object 100 may be forced into the plurality of fingers 22 either by moving the gripping member 12 by the actuator 25 (FIG. 1) into the object 100, by the support member 14 moving the object 100 into the gripping member 12, and/or a combination thereof.

When transitioning or moving from the un-deformed position to the deformed position, the central finger 62 moves in the lateral direction (i.e., in the +/−Y direction) with the fastener 63 slidably moving along the central slot 50. The coupling of the central finger 62 to the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 via the flexible membranes 66 causes the adjoining fingers 64 to move along the lateral slots 52 and to rotate about the pivot point at the fastener 70 in the direction indicated by arrow A1 (e.g., away from the central finger 62) as the flexible membranes pull on the side edges 84 while moving from the resting state to the expanded state. As such, movement of the central finger 62 in the lateral direction (i.e., in the +/−Y direction) may cause a chain reaction movement of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64. The fasteners 92 slidably move along the lateral slots 52 while, simultaneously, the adjoining fingers 64 rotate about the fasteners 70 in the direction indicated by arrow A1.

The biasing member 68 (FIG. 1) may maintain the plurality of fingers 22 in the un-deformed position and bias the plurality of fingers 22 from the deformed position into the un-deformed position. As such, to move the plurality of fingers 22 from the un-deformed position into the deformed positon, the force on the contact surface 82 of the contact portion 76 is greater than the biasing force of the biasing member 68 (FIG. 1) and/or the force of the plurality of ray fins 72. In the deformed position, the contact surfaces 82 of the adjoining fingers 64 may extend obliquely to the contact surface 82 of the central finger 62 to face a center point 103 equally spaced apart from the contact surface 82 of the central finger 62 and the contact surfaces 82 of the adjoining fingers of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 when the object is round, or spherical, and thus symmetrical, as depicted in FIG. 5.

That is, in the deformed position, the central finger 62 and the adjoining fingers 64 may move to at least partially follow or partially match the contour of the object 100 in contact with the contact surface 82 both in the respective slots 50, 52 and also the spine 78, the contact portion 76, and the plurality of ray fins 72 may also deform, bend, and/or buckle to help partially follow or partially match the contour or shape of a surface 101 of the object 100. That is, the deforming, bending, and/or buckling of the spine 78, the contact portion 76, and the plurality of ray fins 72 cause the contact surfaces 82 to curve around the object 100.

In embodiments where the object 100 is not symmetrical along the surface 101, the amount of deformation, movement in the slots 50, 52 and the like, may vary between the plurality of fingers 22. For example, one of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may pivot more in the lateral slot 52 about the fastener 70 in the direction of A1 than the other plurality of adjoining fingers 64. Further, one of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may deform a greater amount that another one of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64.

As such, the plurality of fingers 22 make coordinated movements to grasp the object 100 by at least partially deforming to a contour of the surface of the object 100 being grasped. Such embodiments provide for improvements in grasping and holding the object 100 by increasing the amount of contact between each of the plurality of fingers 22 and the surface 101 of the object 100.

Referring again to FIGS. 1-5, the support member 14 may be any structure capable of holding the object 100, providing support to the object 100 for the gripping member 12, moving the object into the gripping member 12, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the support member may be the same structure as the gripping member 12. In other embodiments, the support member 14 may contain some of the structure of the gripping member 12 such as only the central finger 62. In other embodiments, the support member may be a rigid material that can perform the functionality described above with respect to the support member 14.

The support member 14 may be positioned spaced apart from the gripping member 12 such that the object 100 may be gripped between the support member 14 and the gripping member 12. In some embodiments, the mounting bracket 16 of the support member 14 may move along the slot 19 in the upper wall 18a of the housing 18 in the lateral direction (e.g., in the +/−Y direction) toward the gripping member 12. The gripping member 12 may remain stationary or may move along the other slot 19 in the housing 18 in the lateral direction (i.e., in the +/−Y direction) such that the object 100 is squeezed between the support member 14 and the gripping member 12. The actuator 25 operatively coupled to the mounting brackets 16 of the gripping member 12 and the support member 14 moves the gripping member 12 and/or the support member 14 along the slots 19 of the upper wall 18a of the housing 18.

Upon contact between the gripping member 12 and the support member 14 onto the object 100, the contact between the object and the central finger 62 displaces the central finger 62 in the lateral direction (i.e., in the +/−Y direction) along the central slot 50. The movement of the central finger 62 in the lateral direction (i.e., in the +/−Y direction) pivots the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 about the fastener in the direction of arrow A1. The adjacent fingers of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 to the central finger 62 may pivot in the direction of A1 from the pulling action of the plurality of flexible membranes 66 caused from the displacement of the central finger 62.

As such the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may pivot about the fastener 70 in the direction of A1 and move within the lateral slot 52 such that the contact surfaces 82 of each of the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may be generally concave to circumferentially surround at least a portion of the surface 101 of the object 100. The ray fins 72 of each of the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may buckle when the contact surfaces 82 of the central finger 62 and the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 contact the object, causing the contact surfaces 82 to curve around at least a portion of the surface 101 of the object 100.

Referring now to FIGS. 6-8, an alternative gripping assembly 10′ is depicted. The alternative gripping assembly 10′ includes substantially the same structure as the gripping assembly 10 described above with respect to FIGS. 1-5, and like structure will use the same reference numerals and will not be described again for brevity reasons. The alternative gripping assembly 10′ differs in that the gripping assembly 10′ includes an even number of the plurality of fingers 22. The plurality of fingers 22 may include the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 without the central finger 62 disposed therebetween. The plurality of adjoining fingers 64 are described above and will not be described again for brevity reasons.

The plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may each be coupled directly to an adjacent adjoining finger of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 by the plurality of flexible membranes 66. Each of the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 may pivot about the fastener 70 in the direction of arrow A1 upon contact with the object such that the plurality of adjoining fingers 64 conform to the surface 101 of the object