new generation cobots.

What’s easy for humans can be so hard for a robot. But innovations in gripping, software, and collaborative robots are leading to rapidly improving capabilities — while increasing the number of possible applications. It’s now simpler, quicker, and cheaper to automate sophisticated solutions in manufacturing, assembly, logistics, warehousing, packaging, and surface finishing.

The makers of robotic grippers have designed their products to work with multiple models of industrial and collaborative robot arms. Advances in prosthetics have paralleled the development of electromechanical and pneumatic grippers. Better sensing and controls, lighter materials, and more efficient use of space and power continue to make grippers an area of robotics worth watching.

 Here are six advances in grippers:-

1. The right tool for the job- Robot grippers must be appropriate for the size, weight, and rigidity of the objects they handle, as well as the required precision. Shoeboxes are much easier to move than screws, a large pallet, or shrink-wrapped shirts, for example:-As with robots in general, cobot EOAT designers and users should consider the competing demands for cycle time, torque, and shape and force limitations for safety. Environmental contaminants and patterns of contact and wear are other factors to note. Several companies, such as Destaco, offer customizable end effectors to work with specific items or materials.

 2. Nimbler fingers– While human-level dexterity might not be the goal of developers and suppliers — surpassing it is — new materials and types of grippers are making robots more reliable and flexible than ever. Robotiq’s three-finger adaptive grippers are designed to minimize tool changes with a high degree of customizability, a patented mechanism for high precision, and plug-and-play kits for UR arms. OnRobot’s RG-FT smart gripper, which debuted at last year’s IMTS, includes six-axis force and torque sensors.

3. New approaches to suction- A new generation of vacuum grippers don’t require an external air supply to create suction. This results in suction grippers that are less noisy, more energy efficient and a smaller overall footprint. The technology is based on the shape memory properties of nickel-titanium alloy, which is able to “remember” its shape and to return to that original shape after it has been deformed. By switching on and off an electrical current that flows to that muscle, it contracts to create a vacuum within the rubber membrane and relaxes to release it.

4. Combining approaches- In the past year, several companies have combined types of grippers for more reliable pick-and-place operations. RightHand Robotics’ RightPick has both a vacuum gripper and fingers and uses computer vision and machine learning in the cloud. Purple Robotics, which was launched by former Universal Robotics engineers, offered dual-grip functionality with its PR10, incorporating both claw and vacuum gripper types. The PR10 is now OnRobot’s VG10. Soft Robotics’ SuperPick system is controlled by AI and adds a vacuum to its compliant grippers.

5. Improved sensors, AI guide grippers- Among the recent developments for robotic manipulation is the addition of machine learning, fed by large data sets and connected via the Industrial Internet of Things. As with other forms of artificial intelligence, this depends on the amount of data available, whether processing for machine vision occurs at the edge or in the cloud, and the types of sensors used. For instance, Vicarious AI is developing “artificial general intelligence for robots”.

6. Mobile manipulation- Sometimes described as the “holy grail” of e-commerce automation, the combination of cobots with mobile platforms has been elusive until recently. Fetch Robotics has been known more for its Freight autonomous mobile robots, but its Fetch mobile manipulator is available for researchers. IAM Robotics’ Swift can pick items from shelves and place them into bins, and it can be run in fleets.

Research trends in collaborative robotics:

 Collaborative robots, or cobots as they are commonly known, have developed extremely fast and successfully. An emerging technology met with scepticism only a decade ago, today cobots represent the fastest-growing segment of industrial robotics. Given the latest exciting trends in robotics research, their success is expected to grow.

What’s the future for collaborative robotics?

The Roadmap presents research goals in various robotics fields, with specific targets for the next 5, 10 and 15 years. Although predictions like these are often unreliable, they give a good indication of the current direction of robotics research and provide a picture of what we can expect over the next decade. Physical robotic systems are already beginning to meet the requirements of manufacturers and researchers. However, progress is still needed in the collaborative control of robots. We have seen a lot of intuitive programming systems over the last few years, but advanced collaborative interaction is still in its infancy.

1. Human-Safe Robotic Arms- Robotic hardware has changing a lot over recent years. Collaborative robots are a perfect example. There is a move away from the fast, rigid industrial manipulators of the past towards robots which can operate side-by-side with humans.

2. Standardized Interface Design- The industry is beginning to recognize the benefits of more standardization in robotics. This is also becoming recognized within research, where there has long been a lack of standardized benchmarking practices.

3. Adapting to Humans- As robots work closer with humans, there is a great need for them to be able to respond to users and adapt their behaviours. As a research field, this type of adaption is still relatively young.

5. True Collaborative robots- Currently, collaborative robots operate mostly on-their own. Collaboration is very basic and it usually involves placing or removing objects from the robot’s workspace. However, there is scope for a much deeper level of collaboration, where robots complete complex plans collaboratively with humans and adapt to the changing needs of a plan.

New generation cobots have combined the need for safety with the possibility to operate at full speed. Now that this compromise has finally been reached, nothing is holding collaborative robotics back.