CAGD – Computer Aided Gripper Design for a Flexible Gripping System

Michael Sdahl,Bernd Kuhlenkoetter

doi:10.5772/5795

Abstract

This paper is a summary of the recently accomplished research work on flexible gripping systems. The goal is to develop a gripper which can be used for a great amount of geometrically variant workpieces. The economic aspect is of particular importance during the whole development. The high flexibility of the gripper is obtained by three parallel used principles. These are human and computer based analysis of the gripping object as well as mechanical adaptation of the gripper to the object with the help of servo motors. The focus is on the gripping of free-form surfaces with suction cup.

Highlights

Grippers play an important role within automation systems
This article mainly focuses on a three finger gripper with suction cups as a possible solution for a flexible gripper design
2.1 Human workpiece analysis as a basis for the design of a gripper The first step in designing a gripper for different workpieces is to identify geometrical similarities of the workpieces. This is difficult for a human, because one has to detect the same gripping points on different workpieces

Summary

Current Situation

Grippers play an important role within automation systems. They are the interface between the workpiece and the whole automation system which realises a certain production process. Examples are the Karlsruher Hand (Osswald, D., 2001), the IFASHand developed at RWTH Aachen (Czinki, A., 2001) and the DLR-Hand (Butterfass, J., 2001) They represent high-end technology not suitable for general industrial use. There are some applications where adaptive industrial gripper solutions could be helpful to decrease setup times of handling systems and achieve a high flexibility of the whole automation system. Quality control systems have to deal with all those kinds of reflectors and need a high flexible gripping system to handle the reflector types. For this task an adjustable, adaptive gripping system could be an economical improvement. First developments on flexible gripping technology are carried out in this article

Flexible gripper development

Design of a gripper based on a CAD data analysis – CAGD

Mechanical adjustment

Combination of the different possibilities

Perspective