This Gripper IS Rocket Science

The Gecko Gripper from OnRobot Americas (Irving, TX) uses millions of micro-scaled fibrillar stalks that adhere to a surface by applying powerful van der Waals forces – the same way that geckos climb. This lets robots pick up flat, smooth objects with significant energy savings over existing grippers, such as vacuum grippers that require compressed air that is costly, power-intensive, and bulky. The Gecko Gripper interfaces with any robot and can pay for itself in eight months in cost savings for electricity to compress air alone. This gripper can affix to a wide range of surfaces, including fragile items that vacuum grippers can’t handle. It also offers competitive advantages over electrostatic grippers that are weaker and require high-voltage systems to operate.

Based on the nimble gecko lizards that are native to the Southern Hemisphere, the initial design of the Gecko Gripper progressed from a Stanford research project to the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab to industry through multiple collaborations. The original NASA use-case was for salvaging and repairing satellites such as solar panels, given the gripper’s unique ability to operate in a vacuum. Perception Robotics (Los Angeles, CA) created the first industrial grippers with new polymer research that increased gripping strength by 5X. Perception was then acquired by OnRobot, which is dedicated to developing and commercializing innovation that helps manufacturers take full advantage of collaborative robotics. “The market reaction has been extremely positive,” says Kristian Hulgard, the general manager of OnRobot Americas. “We see the gripper now challenging traditional application and material handling design in a wide range of delicate tasks, such as picking up porous and fragile objects like PCB boards.” Hulgard noted how this gripper excels at picking up objects with holes that vacuum grippers cannot address because they lose suction when air passes through openings in the object.

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OnRobot also offers their updated RG2-FT gripper with built-in force/torque sensing that supports work in piece detection and centering. With built-in 6-axis F/T and proximity laser sensors at the fingertips, the RG2-FT is the first intelligent gripper on the market that can see and feel objects, thus ensuring faster deployment of collaborative applications and ultimately higher productivity in tasks such as assembly, insertion, and quality inspection. “The intelligent force feedback provided by the gripper’s sensors will also help operators in adjusting their applications for optimal design and positioning,” added Hulgard. Both of these grippers are available in North America through a rapidly expanding partner network.

OnRobot Americas, 222 West Las Colinas Boulevard, Suite 854E, #120, Irving, TX 75039, 469-442-9370, kristian.hulgard@onrobot.com, www.onrobot.com.