Design of a gripper tool for robotic picking and placing

Abstract

Industrial robots are very popular in now day’s automation factories, industrial robots can perform jobs that people are not willing or able to perform. Industrial robots can repeat the same work at the exactly same way, resulting a higher quality of production. Industrial robots can work in several areas, each robot must have a specific tool for each area. This thesis includes design of a gripper tool for an industrial robot for picking and placing different laser notched generator-parts. The product is being designed for the division of electricity in Uppsala University. A gripper tool prototype might be built in the future. The report begins with a theoretical comparison between lifting and gripping techniques for later deciding which technique is most suitable for picking and placing the different parts. A pre-study and a short description about different transporting systems have been made. After the pre-study different concepts were developed, the best suitable concept was selected for further development and final construction. The final design of the gripper tool was used in the robot cell-simulation program ABB Robot Studio for choosing a proper cell design. The gripper tool was designed in light weight material aluminium, and uses electromagnets for picking and releasing the different notched part. The gripper tool is assembled on an industrial robot from ABB, IRB 7600 with a handling capacity of 150 kg and 3.5m reach.