OnRobot Robotic Grippers

The newly-formed company OnRobot was a big hit at Automatica. Located next to Universal Robots (UR) booth, the company combined the work of Perception Robotics (US), OptoForce (Hungary), and OnRobot (Denmark). Automatica was the company’s coming-out party with three grippers and an upgraded force torque sensor. The merger could signal the rise of another Denmark-based robotics powerhouse.

OnRobot CEO Enrico Krog Iversen foresees building an entity where everything that goes on a robot can be acquired from OnRobot with a single intuitive user interface.

“Collaborative robots have the potential to become the comprehensive standard in industrial automation,” said Iversen, the former CEO of UR from 2008-2016. “We want to unleash this potential by making collaborative applications even easier to implement and to carry them into completely new applications – that is the idea behind all our new products that we are presenting here at Automatica.”

The Gecko Gripper, developed by Perception Robotics, was inspired by nature, applying a similar adhesive system for gripping as the feet of a gecko lizard. Fine fibers adhere to the surface of an item to generate a strong grasp. The gripper is compatible with UR and Kawasaki robotic arms. OnRobot licenses a concept originally developed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and brought the Gecko Gripper to market.

The Gecko Gripper was one winner of the International Federation of Robotics Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation (IERA) Award. OnRobot said the Gecko Gripper will work well perforated or porous objects that are typically troublesome for vacuum-based grippers to manipulate.

The Polyskin Tactile Gripper, also developed by Perception Robotics, is a two-fingered gripper. The fingers can be individually aligned and have integrated tactile sensors in the fingertips. This allows the gripper to precisely measure the condition of the surface of workpieces and align its gripping processes accordingly. The Polyskin Tactile Gripper is also compatible with UR and Kawasaki.

The RG2-FT, a variation of OnRobot’s original RG2 gripper, has integrated force torque sensors and a proximity sensor, that accurately detects the condition of objects. OnRobot said the gripper detects the danger of objects slipping before it happens, making handling safer. The RG2-FT is compatible with UR and KUKA.

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