Schmalz develops smart grippers for cobots

Safe MRK

23.07.2018, 11:08

Schmalz develops smart grippers for cobots

Humans and robots are also moving closer together in logistics. Schmalz has therefore developed a gripper solution that ensures safe human-robot collaboration thanks to its product design.

With flexible foam as a gripping surface, the gripper can securely hold cardboard packaging, boxes and components with structures, recesses and three-dimensional external shapes weighing up to eight kilograms. © Lard

The cobot gripper is designed for numerous applications in intralogistics such as end-of-line packaging or pick & place applications. With flexible foam as a gripping surface, it can securely hold cardboard packaging, boxes and components with structures, recesses and three-dimensional external shapes weighing up to eight kilograms. It can also be easily integrated into automation environments thanks to its communication technology.

Collaborative robots pose new challenges for their system components: they must be lightweight because they often have lower payloads and must not pose a danger to humans. Schmalz has already taken this into account when designing the new cobot gripper. By increasing the contact surface and reducing the impact forces, it complies with ISO TS 15066 - a standard for cooperation between humans and collaborative industrial robots. Additive manufacturing processes allow a weight-optimized and dynamic geometry of the Schmalz gripper. This enables it to be connected to small robots with low payloads.

The gripper has a modular design so that it can be supplemented with energy-saving ejector modules or intelligent vacuum switches for process monitoring, for example. Different applications can be implemented with one and the same gripper, and partial configuration is also possible. The vacuum can be generated both internally and externally - depending on the conditions at the user's site.

In general, flexible and plug-and-play solutions such as the Cobot gripper from Schmalz are becoming increasingly important. Even unskilled people should be able to install the components quickly and easily in order to grip products that have often not been defined more precisely in advance. One crucial aspect is the issue of safety, because the boundaries between manual work and robots are becoming increasingly blurred. as

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