Grasping at straws – and other materials

When look­ing at robot­ic grip­pers, none may be more fas­ci­nat­ing than ser­vo grip­pers. Ser­vo-elec­tric grip­pers are some­what relat­ed to oth­er claw and pneu­mat­ic grip­pers, but they are more human-like. This gives the ser­vo grip­per an abil­i­ty to con­trol the amount of force used when pick­ing up objects.

There are sev­er­al advan­tages to using a ser­vo-elec­tric grip­per over oth­er sim­i­lar claw robot­ic grip­pers cur­rent­ly on the market.

• Con­trol of posi­tion: The posi­tion of the ser­vo grip­per can be defined and con­trolled. It does not have to com­plete its full range of motion with every oper­a­tion. It can have vary­ing degrees of motion, depend­ing on the items it is handling.
• Con­trol of force: Since the grip­per has bet­ter con­trol avail­able for its motion, it can also con­trol the force and speed at which it works. This can help the robot­ic ser­vo grip­per go from one mate­r­i­al tol­er­ance to anoth­er with­out hav­ing to reprogram.
• Grip: Because of the encod­ed motors used by a ser­vo-elec­tric grip­per, the robot can detect when an item has been picked up by the end effec­tor. Many man­u­fac­tur­ers find this help­ful in error-proof­ing their production.
• Ener­gy saver: Because there are no air lines in the ser­vo-elec­tric grip­pers, there is a decrease in pro­duc­tion costs.
• Clean­li­ness: In clean­room appli­ca­tions, ser­vo-elec­tric grip­pers may be the only choice. Air lines in oth­er grip­pers may cause con­t­a­m­i­na­tion if they leak.

With so many com­pa­nies switch­ing from oth­er grip­pers to ser­vo-elec­tric grip­pers, it is just a mat­ter of time before these grip­pers are the most com­mon end effec­tor on the market.

For more infor­ma­tion about automat­ing with Robots​.com, con­tact us today online or at 877−762−6881.