The functionality of a cobot is decided at the end of its arm and bespoke vacuum gripping heads for specific, customised robotic applications can be difficult to specify, time consuming to design, trial and then manufacture. The latest flexible cobot picker and 3D printed, configurable bag grippers from Piab simplifies the design and manufacture process, increasing the flexibility of cobots and the range of applications – without retooling.
For cobots to prevail they must be versatile and easy to handle. End-of-arm tools play a key role as it allows the cobot to pick up a part. Especially when providing parts for human processing, the tool at the end of the arm is crucial. The flexibility of the tool determines the application width. While specific tools can accommodate a specific part and perform well in a defined process, developing tools to accommodate a wide variety of parts with different contours is a key factor in the flexible use of cobots. As this allows them to be used at different points according to demand and thus to optimally use the capacity of the Cobot – i. e. to achieve the fastest possible return on investment.
Taking these exact requirements into account, Piab has introduced their first “ready-to-go” vacuum gripper unit tailor made for collaborative robots, i.e. robots which can be used in close proximity to humans. The result is the new, compact KCS series Kenos vacuum gripper that can pick up products of many different shapes and is designed in such a way that different grippers can be exchanged easily and efficiently via a quick-change system.
The system consists of a separate pump unit, in which a modular vacuum generation device is integrated in the smallest space – and a gripper unit. Both are connected to each other by the quick-change system. The entire unit can be attached to all common cobot models with a suitable adapter.
The main gripper consists of a technical foam on its underside, which can adapt to a wide variety of contours and thus very flexibly handle different parts. This eliminates in many cases the need for accurate detection of a workpiece as well as the detection of gripping surfaces. Accordingly, in many applications, a change of the gripper when changing the parts to be picked up is not necessary. The cobot is therefore ready for immediate use at different processes. In addition to the greatest possible flexibility in the field of application, time and cost savings are achieved through shorter downtimes and retooling times. This supports the economic production of ever smaller batch sizes, especially in markets with a high demand for individualized products. For handling food, the gripper can be equipped with a special FDA-approved technical foam.
For special applications, such as the handling of plastic bags filled with concentrates or granules, Piab has developed another gripper unit, which can be swiftly exchanged via the quick-change system.
Both gripper units are characterized by their edgeless design. Due to the rounded sides and the technical foam surface of the main unit, possible injury hazards were largely eliminated. This makes the gripper units particularly safe to use on cobots, which cooperate freely with humans and thus increases the acceptance by the employees.
Vacuum gripper for bags – designed in just 2 minutes
The new 3D printed Customizable Bag Gripper (CBG) design tool is a unique software programme that allows customers to design/configure world-class and lightweight vacuum grippers for perfect handling of bags and pouches weighing up to 2 kg within minutes, providing optimally designed vacuum gripper tools for best-in-class grip on specific bags or pouches.
”Our customers can now design their own unique gripper tools for even the most challenging of applications with bags or pouches that are really very tricky to get a grip on. And it is just a two minute job,” says Josef Karbassi, Vice President of Piab’s Automation Division.
The easy-to-use “2 minutes-to-design” CBG tool saves days, or even a week, of engineering work, resulting in huge cost savings for robot/system integrators or end-users needing new vacuum gripper tools for their bag/pouch handling robots. The customised grippers include everything needed for gripping bags or pouches with the highest reliability even at high speed. It comes with fully decentralised (one per cup) dust proof SX12 COAX® vacuum generators, state-of-the-art piGRIP® “bag-lip” suction cups, stabilisers around the cup, and an automatic quick-release function.
Finished with their designs, users click on the “send for a request” button alerting Piab’s 3D print gripper team of experts, who will get in touch to confirm the design before starting production using the automatically generated and protected high quality 3D print file. As an additional service a 3D download is available to customers as well as a unique code for the configured gripper.
Web Links
