Strategies for gripper design and selection in robotic assembly

Abstract

Abstract The gripper is the mechanical interface between the robot and its environment. Without it, the robot cannot perform the pick-and-place functions needed for assembly tasks. As with other peripheral equipment, grippers should have sufficient versatility to deal with the variety of parts an assembly robot has to handle. Yet the cost of grippers and peripherals should not be so high as to render a robotic assembly application uneconomic. This paper focuses on strategies to achieve versatile and cost-effective gripping. The three main sections of the paper cover existing techniques for making grippers more flexible, a strategy for minimizing the required number of grippers through part-family grouping, and a strategy for selecting and using grippers based on knowledge-engineering methodology.