Common Robots supplies a variety of UR licensed grippers by way of UR+ –a worldwide ecosystem of parts, software program, and software kits which have been validated and authorized to be mechanically, electrically and digitally suitable with cobots from Common Robots.
At first, the sheer number of grippers obtainable can appear daunting, particularly for those who’re new to automation. There are electrical grippers, pneumatic grippers, gentle grippers and vacuum grippers. There are 2-finger and 3-finger grippers, magnetic grippers, mechanical grippers and adaptive grippers, and every gripper supplies distinctive benefits in help of your machine tending, materials dealing with and meeting functions.
This text is about parallel grippers, so for those who’re at a extra preliminary stage in your gripper journey and also you’re questioning ‘What are the kinds of grippers?’ attempt studying this text first. (If you’re searching for an outline of a few of the variations between grippers and wish to know the way vacuum grippers and pneumatic grippers work, for instance, try this text.)
What’s a parallel gripper?
Parallel grippers are a kind of commercial robotic gripper that includes two fingers that stay parallel once they open and shut. In operation, the fingers shut onto the workpiece, grip it in the course of the duty and launch the item when required. The robotic gripper mechanism present in parallel grippers makes them an ideal match for dealing with components with predictable shapes and they’re usually chosen for machine tending and choose & place sort functions. Parallel grippers are one of the vital well-liked gripper varieties within the UR+ ecosystem as a consequence of their ease of use.
Parallel grippers might be powered by electrical energy or pneumatics. Electrical parallel grippers use electrical energy to energy motors. The motors are linked to the gripper’s fingers in such a method that the round movement of the motor is translated right into a linear movement. In the meantime, pneumatically-powered parallel grippers use air stress to open and shut the gripper’s fingers.
Parallel grippers are additionally present in ‘mechanical gripper’ and ‘adaptive gripper’ kinds. The time period ‘mechanical gripper’ refers to any industrial gripper that makes use of movable levers (or ‘fingers’) to understand objects. Mechanical grippers provide dependable efficiency in all types of producing functions from machine tending to meeting, however adaptive grippers are extra versatile, since they allow your robotic to choose up all kinds of various objects with out the end-user having to step in and alter the gripper.
Parallel grippers shouldn’t be confused with 3-finger or angled grippers. 3-finger grippers have a extra complicated mechanism that grasp the workpiece with three fingers which are offset by 120°. In operation, the fingers slide the workpiece to the gripper’s centre to soundly grasp the item. In the meantime, angled grippers are so-called as a result of they use fingers that method the gripper from quite a lot of angles (e.g. 80° or 30°). For some functions, akin to when there isn’t house for a parallel gripper to open and shut efficiently, angled grippers often is the more sensible choice.
Now that we’ve coated a few of the fundamentals, let’s check out a few of the UR licensed parallel grippers obtainable by way of UR+.
Robotiq’s Hand-E gripper supplies a 50-mm parallel stroke, which makes it perfect for precision meeting duties. The gripper’s sealed design is rugged sufficient to make sure reliability within the hardest manufacturing situations, together with CNC machining. Obtainable in each twin and single configurations and specifically designed to be used with collaborative robots, Hand-E additionally supplies adjustable power, rounded edges, self-locking functionalities, and different options that make it protected to make use of in shut proximity to people. The Hand-E is really adaptive, which implies that it is ready to autonomously alter to many various kinds of merchandise of various shapes and sizes.
