The brand new HPPH gripper is designed to scale back wiring and weight whereas supporting
protected operation. | Credit score: Festo
Festo Corp. has launched the HPPH two-finger pneumatic parallel gripper, a light-weight system designed to beat collaborative robotic payload and wiring constraints by integrating the controls, sensing, and licensed security capabilities immediately into the gripper physique. The corporate additionally shared its progress with the GripperAI software program.
Pressure- and power-limited robotic arms sometimes function inside strict payload and mounting constraints, famous Festo. Pneumatic grippers that depend on exterior elements add weight, improve footprint, and complicate routing alongside compact cobots, famous the corporate.
By lowering the variety of these elements, the HPPH preserves payload capability and simplifies mounting and wiring on collaborative robotic platforms, stated Festo. The brand new gripper integrates the pneumatic management valve, place sensors, and electrical interface immediately into the gripper physique.
This useful integration additionally simplifies ordering, minimizes wiring complexity, and shortens set up and commissioning time, Festo asserted. An IO-link model is offered for enhanced diagnostics and distant configuration.
The HPPH weighs 1.5 lb. (0.68 kg) and helps protect robotic payload capability whereas lowering mechanical load on smaller cobots. The utmost gripper opening is 0.63 in (16 mm), and the HPPH is appropriate for dealing with objects weighing as much as 2.2 lb. (1 kg).
Festo added that it developed the HPPH in accordance with ISO/TS 15066 for collaborative robotic security and that it meets TÜV Süd-certification when used with HAFH-B30-16-45-N gripper fingers. The system contains a force-limited gripping mode of 31.5 lbf (140 newtons), roughly the equal of a agency handshake, to scale back the chance of harm throughout close-proximity operation.
If larger gripping power is required, the power restrict will be disabled to assist non-collaborative functions with gripping forces as much as roughly 40.5 lbf (180 newtons). The corporate stated it additionally minimized sharp edges and pinch factors with a easy housing.
The HPPH just isn’t appropriate for machining or environments with aggressive media, grinding mud, or welding splatter, famous Festo. The gripper joins greater than 30,000 interoperable pneumatic, electrical, and software program merchandise in Festo’s automation portfolio.
The HPPH is offered by means of Esslingen am Neckar, Germany-based Festo’s website and the Universal Robotics Marketplace.
GripperAI is appropriate with a spread of robots, grippers
Festo has additionally launched GripperAI, which is designed to deal with unfamiliar objects in disordered environments with out requiring programming or teach-in coaching. Appropriate with a variety of grippers, the software program makes use of synthetic intelligence to find out optimum greedy factors, aiming to make material handling extra versatile and accessible for varied industrial functions.
GripperAI is robot-agnostic, stated Festo, whose North American headquarters are in Islandia, N.Y. It really works with producers and kinematic programs together with cobots, traditional robots, and Cartesian dealing with programs.
The software program permits robots to grip beforehand unseen or chaotically positioned objects, together with bulk supplies, with out the necessity for programming or teach-in coaching, saving vital setup time, in accordance with the corporate.
As well as, GripperAI can routinely carry out a software change to accumulate the suitable finish effector for a picking job. This adaptability makes it appropriate for dealing with numerous objects in logistics, manufacturing, and packaging environments.
GripperAI is constructed to scale back the setup time for a robotic in a choosing software. | Credit score: Festo
Festo designs software program to work on the sting
GripperAI is designed to make use of edge computing and may function with minimal {hardware}: A low-cost 3D RGB-D digital camera and a fundamental CPU (Core i3, >4 GB RAM) are adequate for easy duties. For extra complicated functions akin to gripping luggage, irregular geometries, or chaotically saved components, higher-end GPUs and cameras can enhance velocity and success charges, stated Festo.
The software program is modular and will be put in on-site or operated within the cloud, supporting REST interfaces for integration. GripperAI will be deployed on robotic CPUs, industrial PCs, and even inside the digital camera itself.
Würth Group, which has about 1 million components in its portfolio, has already tested the software program in its logistics operations. It used GripperAI-equipped robots to empty crates crammed with blended, randomly oriented objects.
“We constructed a duplicate of Würth’s sorter conveyors in our laboratory, which allowed us to develop the robotic’s varied capabilities: object-dependent gripper choice, gripping any objects from the trays, packing delivery cartons and dealing with the cartons and trays,” defined Jan Seyler, head of superior growth analytics and management at Festo.
The system identifies every object, selects the suitable gripping software, and effectively transfers objects for packaging or sorting, all with out handbook intervention or pre-programmed object information. The robotic cell can function in all of Würth’s deliberate traces, and the businesses have outlined additional growth work and optimization steps.
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