{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T23:02:41Z","timestamp":1784674961402,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1778112000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Robot. AI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Passive adaptive grippers leverage existing degrees of freedom (DOFs) of an external host system such as a robotic arm to complete a manipulation task. These grippers commonly rely on embodied intelligence to achieve this goal, leveraging interaction between the gripper and the environment to trigger prehension, retention, and release of an object. This mini-review establishes a framework for classification of state-of-the-art passive gripper designs across three phases of the gripping procedure: passive prehension (contact-loaded or preloaded), passive retention (externally or internally-sustained), and passive release (contact-based or contactless). Hereby, this work aims to accelerate future research on passive adaptive grippers and provide guidance for application-specific gripper design. Fully passive grippers that simultaneously combine reliable prehension, internally-sustained retention, and contactless release remain scarce. A fundamental trade-off exists between the gripper\u2019s controllability and the host system\u2019s flexibility; optimal gripper design must therefore be tailored to the specific task and operational constraints. Another key challenge is to minimize the force required to be exerted on the object to activate passive prehension. A promising direction towards addressing this challenge is the development of passive preloading mechanisms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2026.1747157","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T04:56:58Z","timestamp":1778129818000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Passive adaptive grippers: a mini-review"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Ming Chun","family":"Chan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Integrative Systems and Design, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology","place":["Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rob B. N.","family":"Scharff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Integrative Systems and Design, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology","place":["Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China"]},{"name":"Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology","place":["Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"115380","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sna.2024.115380","article-title":"Soft robotic grippers: a review on technologies, materials, and applications","volume":"372","author":"AboZaid","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sensors Actuators A Phys."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"8250","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2024.3442535","article-title":"Softsling: a soft robotic arm control strategy to throw objects with circular run-ups","volume":"9","author":"Bianchi","year":"2024","journal-title":"IEEE Robotics Automation Lett."},{"key":"B3","first-page":"18809","article-title":"Universal robotic gripper based on the jamming of granular material","volume-title":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences","author":"Brown","year":"2010"},{"key":"B47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1109\/ROBOT.2001.932538","article-title":"DLR-Hand II: Next generation of a dextrous robot hand","volume":"1","author":"Butterfass","year":"2001","journal-title":"Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164)"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"110279","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijmecsci.2025.110279","article-title":"Self-adaptive bistable gripper with fin ray effect for versatile grasping","volume":"295","author":"Cai","year":"2025","journal-title":"Int. J. Mech. Sci."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"8139","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2025.3583612","article-title":"Venus flytrap-inspired electromagnetically driven bistable gripper for fast envelope grasping","volume":"10","author":"Cai","year":"2025","journal-title":"IEEE Robotics Automation Lett."},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"11323","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2025.3610293","article-title":"Passive adaptive object prehension, retention, and release with a mechanically intelligent gripper","volume":"10","author":"Chan","year":"2025","journal-title":"IEEE Robotics Automation Lett."},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1729881417721155","DOI":"10.1177\/1729881417721155","article-title":"Passive gripper inspired by Manduca sexta and the fin ray\u00ae effect","volume":"14","author":"Crooks","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. J. Adv. Robotic Syst."},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2652","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2022.3143891","article-title":"Tendon-driven soft robotic gripper for blackberry harvesting","volume":"7","author":"Gunderman","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Robotics Automation Lett."},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"035033","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-665x\/ab710f","article-title":"Self-locking mechanism for variable stiffness rigid\u2013soft gripper","volume":"29","author":"Guo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Smart Mater. Struct."},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105628","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mechmachtheory.2024.105628","article-title":"Computing complete solution sets for approximate four-bar path synthesis","volume":"196","author":"Hills","year":"2024","journal-title":"Mech. Mach. Theory"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"550","DOI":"10.1089\/soro.2023.0051","article-title":"Reticular origami soft robotic gripper for shape-adaptive and bistable rapid grasping","volume":"11","author":"Hou","year":"2024","journal-title":"Soft Robot."},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5243","DOI":"10.1109\/tmech.2022.3175649","article-title":"A mechanically intelligent and passive gripper for aerial perching and grasping","volume":"27","author":"Hsiao","year":"","journal-title":"IEEE\/ASME Trans. Mechatronics"},{"key":"B13","first-page":"1183","article-title":"A novel passive mechanism for flying robots to perch onto surfaces","volume-title":"2022 international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA)","author":"Hsiao","year":""},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"620","DOI":"10.1109\/AIM.2017.8014086","article-title":"Self-locking underactuated mechanism for robotic gripper","volume-title":"2017 IEEE international conference on advanced intelligent mechatronics (AIM)","author":"Hsu","year":"2017"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"021002","DOI":"10.1115\/1.4054609","article-title":"Design, analysis, and experiment of an underactuated robotic gripper actuated by linear series elastic actuator","volume":"15","author":"Hua","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Mech. Robotics"},{"key":"B45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1520","DOI":"10.1109\/ROBOT.1986.1087395","article-title":"Design of the Utah\/M.I.T. dextrous hand","volume":"3","author":"Jacobsen","year":"1986","journal-title":"Proceedings. 1986 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"347","DOI":"10.3390\/machines9120347","article-title":"Modeling, design, and implementation of an underactuated gripper with capability of grasping thin objects","volume":"9","author":"Kang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Machines"},{"key":"B46","first-page":"782","article-title":"Dexterous anthropomorphic robot hand with distributed tactile sensor: Gifu hand II","volume":"2","author":"Kawasaki","year":"1999","journal-title":"IEEE SMC\u201999 Conference Proceedings. 1999 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (Cat. No.99CH37028)"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1554","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA57147.2024.10611159","article-title":"Rapid resistography with passive overhead-perching mechanism in an unmanned aerial system for wood structure inspection","volume-title":"2024 IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA)","author":"Lee","year":"2024"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"7039","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2024.3418277","article-title":"Pegrip: a plant-tendril-inspired passive entanglement gripper enabling fail-safe grasping","volume":"9","author":"Li","year":"2024","journal-title":"IEEE Robotics Automation Lett."},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2102539","DOI":"10.1002\/advs.202102539","article-title":"A bioinspired stress-response strategy for high-speed soft grippers","volume":"8","author":"Lin","year":"2021","journal-title":"Adv. Sci."},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"920","DOI":"10.1007\/s42235-020-0093-5","article-title":"A track-type inverted climbing robot with bio-inspired spiny grippers","volume":"17","author":"Liu","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Bionic Eng."},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1089\/soro.2021.0147","article-title":"A soft and bistable gripper with adjustable energy barrier for fast capture in space","volume":"10","author":"Liu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Soft Robot."},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2605","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA48506.2021.9561725","article-title":"An underactuated gripper based on car differentials for self-adaptive grasping with passive disturbance rejection","volume-title":"2021 IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA)","author":"Lu","year":"2021"},{"key":"B24","volume-title":"Robot grippers","author":"Monkman","year":"2007"},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1765","DOI":"10.1109\/lra.2018.2794517","article-title":"Passive spine gripper for free-climbing robot in extreme terrain","volume":"3","author":"Nagaoka","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Robotics Automation Lett."},{"key":"B27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10303","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA48891.2023.10160922","article-title":"Passive robotic gripper using a contact-based locking mechanism","volume-title":"2023 IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA)","author":"Nate","year":"2023"},{"key":"B28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1772","DOI":"10.3390\/mi14091772","article-title":"Bioinspiration and biomimetic art in robotic grippers","volume":"14","author":"Nguyen","year":"2023","journal-title":"Micromachines"},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"316","DOI":"10.4028\/www.scientific.net\/amm.162.316","article-title":"Passively adaptive compliant gripper","volume":"162","author":"Petkovic","year":"2012","journal-title":"Appl. Mech. Mater."},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1088","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1145803","article-title":"Self-organization, embodiment, and biologically inspired robotics","volume":"318","author":"Pfeifer","year":"2007","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1040","DOI":"10.1089\/soro.2020.0176","article-title":"A sea-anemone-inspired, multifunctional, bistable gripper","volume":"9","author":"Qi","year":"2022","journal-title":"Soft Robot."},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eabj7562","DOI":"10.1126\/scirobotics.abj7562","article-title":"Bird-inspired dynamic grasping and perching in arboreal environments","volume":"6","author":"Roderick","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sci. Robotics"},{"key":"B34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"12","DOI":"10.3390\/biomimetics5020012","article-title":"A gecko-inspired soft passive gripper","volume":"5","author":"Seibel","year":"2020","journal-title":"Biomimetics"},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1109\/MESA.2014.6935605","article-title":"An open-source 3d printed underactuated robotic gripper","volume-title":"2014 IEEE\/ASME 10th international conference on mechatronic and embedded systems and applications (MESA)","author":"Tlegenov","year":"2014"},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7858","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA55743.2025.11127915","article-title":"Hybrid gripper with passive pneumatic soft joints for grasping deformable thin objects","volume-title":"2025 IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA)","author":"Tran","year":"2025"},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"056017","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-3190\/aba091","article-title":"A soft pneumatic bistable reinforced actuator bioinspired by Venus flytrap with enhanced grasping capability","volume":"15","author":"Wang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Bioinspiration and Biomimetics"},{"key":"B38","volume-title":"Self-closing suction grippers for industrial grasping via form-flexible design","author":"Wang","year":"2025"},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1920","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2025.3526570","article-title":"Bistable soft gripper with tension net applied to uav","volume":"10","author":"Yang","year":"2025","journal-title":"IEEE Robotics Automation Lett."},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3841","DOI":"10.1109\/tmech.2022.3145490","article-title":"Fully passive robotic finger for human-inspired adaptive grasping in environmental constraints","volume":"27","author":"Yoon","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE\/ASME Trans. Mechatronics"},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3600","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2022.3147245","article-title":"A contact-triggered adaptive soft suction cup","volume":"7","author":"Yue","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Robotics Automation Lett."},{"key":"B42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eadr4264","DOI":"10.1126\/scirobotics.adr4264","article-title":"Embodying soft robots with octopus-inspired hierarchical suction intelligence","volume":"10","author":"Yue","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sci. Robotics"},{"key":"B43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eadg3792","DOI":"10.1126\/scirobotics.adg3792","article-title":"Desktop fabrication of monolithic soft robotic devices with embedded fluidic control circuits","volume":"8","author":"Zhai","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sci. Robotics"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Robotics and AI"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frobt.2026.1747157\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T04:57:01Z","timestamp":1778129821000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frobt.2026.1747157\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]]},"references-count":43,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/frobt.2026.1747157"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/frobt.2026.1747157","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-9144"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-9144","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]]},"article-number":"1747157"}}