Robotic EOAT increases versatility

Select­ing the prop­er EOAT to increase ver­sa­til­i­ty is based on end-user’s needs and famil­iar­i­ty of the robot inte­gra­tor. End-effec­tors are avail­able in both angu­lar and par­al­lel style and are actu­at­ed elec­tri­cal­ly, hydrauli­cal­ly, mechan­i­cal­ly, or pneu­mat­i­cal­ly. Pneu­mat­ic EOATs are used in the major­i­ty of tool­ing, and also accom­mo­date most pack­ag­ing appli­ca­tions because of their weight-to-pow­er ratio. How­ev­er, they also pro­vide less con­trol over grip forces and are less flex­i­ble than elec­tric EOATs. Hydraulic EOATs can gen­er­ate high clamp­ing forces and can actu­ate quick­ly. A cer­tain type of end-effec­tor should be cho­sen depend­ing on pow­er con­sump­tion, size, com­plex­i­ty, weight, and requirements. 

Fur­ther, the style of tool­ing that best suits a par­tic­u­lar appli­ca­tion must be con­sid­ered. If prod­ucts will change fre­quent­ly, the end-effec­tor should be capa­ble of adding fin­gers to adapt (two or three fin­gers can form a sta­ble grip). Adap­tive grip­pers pro­mote pro­duc­tion and pack­ag­ing due to the auto­mat­i­cal­ly adjust­ing EOATs. Par­al­lel EOATs are a smart choice when work­ing with well-defined non-com­pli­ant products. 

With EOAT becom­ing more pow­er­ful, ran­dom bin pick­ing is becom­ing a main­stream appli­ca­tion for robots. This is essen­tial as man­u­fac­tur­ers strive to stay ahead of the curve in their indus­tries. Vision-guid­ed robots are equipped with appro­pri­ate tool­ing to pick ran­dom­ly ori­ent­ed parts from a bin and place them down for the next step in the process. The tool­ing must be able to cov­er a wide range of prod­ucts and process­es, and advanced EOAT is mak­ing this a reality.

EOATs also must be ver­sa­tile in the types of items and appli­ances that are han­dled dur­ing the man­u­fac­tur­ing or pack­ag­ing process. Some items require a light touch and must be han­dled del­i­cate­ly. Pneu­mat­ic grip­pers can be adjust­ed to decrease the force of their grips. 

The robot­ics mar­ket is trend­ing towards hybrid tool­ing: the end-effec­tor can per­form a wide range of tasks by using sev­er­al tools. Engi­neers no longer have to use only one tool­ing tech­nol­o­gy to meet an end-user’s needs.

Robots​.com offers a wide vari­ety of EOAT for many brands of indus­tri­al robots. If you are inter­est­ed in pur­chas­ing end-of-arm-tool­ing for your robot, or need a ful­ly inte­grat­ed robot­ic sys­tem, con­tact us today online or at 877−762−6881.