Gripper Technology

The Gripper or hand tooling is not only critical to the success of any application but it is also very often unique.

Although the contemporary robot is mature, well proven and universal in it's capabilities, the hand tooling is often dedicated to the application.

There are a wide range of standard hands available which are often 'parallel motion' in operation. Customised jaws or fingers may be fitted to the slides to suit the unique characteristics of the application. It is often the case that standard hands are not quite suitable for the application under consideration.

Compliancy devices may be fitted between the hand and the mounting flange to aid in applications like assembly, where precision fits need to be accommodated.

In applications like arc welding and gluing, the tooling is often bolted right on to the robot mounting flange.

There are also occasional requirements for tooling changeover devices to enable a variety of different operations to take place. In this instance a tool changer would be bolted to the robot mounting flange. This would be capable of picking and putting a variety of different tools into use, as and when required.

Another concept to consider is the double gripper. In a machine loading application the robot would pick up a part (one gripper empty, one loaded) and wait for the machine cycle to finish. On cycle complete signal, the robot would exchange the completed part with a new blank, without leaving the machine tool (in the shortest time possible). This approach enables the pick and place operations to take place during the machining cycle.

In any good generic application it is more likely than not that the hand tooling has been developed over time and can be demonstrated to present little or no risk, as can be confirmed by existing users.

In a new application the commercial and technical risks can often centre on the hand tooling. This area demands critical examination and sometimes even a phased approach to the project, to prove the principles which have been proposed before fully committing to the installation.