What technical developments are currently taking place in grippers for collaborative industrial robotics?

Dr. Kurt Schmalz: The key word is flexibility: when developing grippers for cobots and lightweight robots, it is important to avoid anything that restricts the user. This starts with adaptation and commissioning: It must be possible to teach the robot intuitively, without specialist knowledge. The adaptation and commissioning of the grippers must be just as simple: Plug-and-work instead of complex programming. Furthermore, the grippers must be flexible enough to support economical automation, even for batch size 1.

... in the sense of Industry 4.0.

Kurt Schmalz: Exactly. One option here is end effectors that can adapt to the workpiece using sensors, camera technology and valves. Alternatively, suitable grippers must be available at short notice and quick to adapt. The short-term availability of individual grippers can be increased with the help of engineering tools and additive manufacturing processes, as with our SLG lightweight gripper.

And what does the design as such have to look like in order to achieve the desired flexibility?

Kurt Schmalz: The design must correspond to the flexible application possibilities of the robots: Operation and control take place on the gripper itself - via buttons or via NFC and smartphone. Cobots and lightweight robots have a limited payload, which requires correspondingly light and compact grippers. The rule is: the lighter the gripper, the heavier the workpiece can be. And the lower the mass to be moved, the faster the movements can take place. This ultimately leads to shorter cycle times and lower energy consumption. Despite the tight weight specifications, we develop smart grippers that meet the demand for autonomous and self-learning systems. We also take all safety-related aspects into account in the design so that humans and robots can work together safely.

What role do you think inspection functions will play in grippers in the future?

Kurt Schmalz: They are already playing a role. We integrate many intelligent functions into our end effectors because cobots usually have few interfaces. For example, sensors in our devices collect data that is relevant for functions such as predictive maintenance and condition monitoring and pass it on to the higher-level controller. This makes separate sensors superfluous.

With vacuum grippers like the ones we offer, the issue of "integrated functions" also includes the question of how and where the vacuum is generated. If, for example, the robots are used in mobile warehouses, our electric vacuum generators, which do not require external compressed air, are ideal.