Selecting End of Arm Tooling

EOA Tool­ing, also known as the end effec­tor, is the robot tool cen­ter in which the part at the end of a robot­ic arm inter­acts with the envi­ron­ment. End of arm tool­ing devices vary by appli­ca­tions and are an essen­tial com­po­nent of a robot. Select­ing EOA parts can be one of the most dif­fi­cult aspects of automa­tion but can be made eas­i­er when under­stand­ing your end-users needs.

Pow­er Sources

The first step in choos­ing EOA parts is to select a pow­er source. EOATs may run either elec­tri­cal­ly, hydrauli­cal­ly, or pneumatically.

Pneu­mat­ic pow­er sources are pop­u­lar among the pack­ag­ing indus­try because of their weight to pow­er ratio. They are read­i­ly avail­able and are capa­ble of apply­ing pow­er­ful forces at great speeds. They are most effecitve for gen­er­at­ing force and motion simul­ta­ne­ous­ly. Pneu­mat­ic sources do have some draw backs as they can lack con­trol and flexibility.

Hydraulic EOAT pow­er sources pro­duce strong clamp­ing forces and act quick­ly. How­ev­er this pow­er source is expen­sive due to the large com­pres­sors need­ed to run the flu­id in it.

Elec­tron­ic pow­er sources are pop­u­lar for appli­ca­tions requir­ing mod­er­ate force at a high speed. It is also the clean­est pow­er source mak­ing it ide­al for han­dling dust sen­si­tive prod­ucts and offers a greater range of control.

Avail­able Pow­er Sup­plies at Robots​.com

End of Arm Tool­ing Types

After select­ing a pow­er source the next step is to decide what device will be the best end effec­tor for your appli­ca­tion. Some pop­u­lar options include:

Adap­tive Grip­pers- These work well with pack­ag­ing and han­dling con­sumer goods because they can auto­mat­i­cal­ly adjust accord­ing to prod­uct type. They are also ide­al for han­dling parts with holes that can­not eas­i­ly be manip­u­lat­ed by vac­u­um grippers.

Par­al­lel EOATs- These are per­fect for weld­ing appli­ca­tions involv­ing well defined objects, such as boxes.

Vac­u­um EOATs- These are the most pop­u­lar and most cost effec­tive form of EOA tool­ing as they can han­dle most parts and sur­faces. They are ide­al for han­dling prod­ucts that require a light touch. Vac­u­um grips are much strong than they appear while offer­ing flex­i­bil­i­ty as air pres­sure may be adjust­ed to reach your desired force.

Check out these end of arm tool­ing options avail­able at Robots​.com.

For addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion on end of arm tool­ing or a quick quote, please con­tact Robots​.com online or at 877−762−6881.