End Effectors / Grippers

Root AI, a Somerville, Mass.-based startup developing the Virgo harvesting robot for indoor farms, was acquired by AppHarvest for $60 million. AppHarvest is investing approximately $10 million in cash and the remaining balance in AppHarvest common shares to acquire Root AI. Founded in 2018, Root AI’s 19 full-time employees are expected to join AppHarvest’s technology…

Piab, a leading end-of-arm tooling developer, has introduced its piSAFE program that enables new benefits in applications where safety, flexibility, speed and performance are key. The solutions in the piSAFE program are developed to provide configurable and low-weight products that can be adapted to a customer’s specific needs. While maintaining leading vacuum performance through Piab’s…

Researchers studied how reinforcement learning enabled a robot arm equipped with a parallel jaw gripper and tactile sensors to insert unknown objects into a hole.

The TC1 has four integrated pass-through air ports plus optional electrical passthrough modules that connect directly to cobots from Universal Robots.

OnRobot CEO Enrico Krog Iversen alluded to a series of upcoming product announcements during his appearance on last week’s episode of The Robot Report Podcast. The 2020 RBR50 company has released the first of those products, the MG10 electric magnetic gripper. It is designed for material handling, assembly and machine tending applications in manufacturing, automotive…

Welcome to Episode 37 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community. You can subscribe to The Robot Report Podcast on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify and more. Please subscribe to the podcast and leave us…

After a busy year product-wise in 2020, OnRobot today released its first new end-of-arm tool (EOAT) for 2021. The VGP20 is an electric vacuum gripper that can handle payloads of 20kg (44.09lbs). OnRobot said the VGP20 is “compatible with all leading robot brands” and is designed primarily for heavy-duty palletizing applications, but it can be…

Boston Dynamics today released several updates to its Spot product line. The goal is to enhance the quadruped’s ability to autonomously monitor job sites. To do so, the RBR50 company introduced a new version of the robot, Spot Enterprise, the Scout web-based teleoperation platform and its long-awaited Spot Arm. None of these products is more…

TripleA robotics’ WINGMAN Tool Changer for collaborative robots. | Credit: TripleA robotics Last month, Denmark-based TripleA robotics left the Odense Robotics StartUp Hub and launched its first product, the WINGMAN Tool Changer System for collaborative robots. After 18 months in the robotics incubator at the Danish Technological Institute, TripleA robotics exits the hub with a…

ATI Industrial Automation has released a slew of end-of-arm tooling kits that are compatible with FANUC’s CRX Series collaborative robot arms. N.C.-based ATI Industrial Automation said the kits include options for automatic tool changing, force sensing, and material removal. They enable tasks such as machine tending, part inspection, surface preparation and more. ATI said the…

A new device that is 6 millimeters in diameter and 16 millimeters in length is capable of focusing and steering a fiber-delivered laser beam at high speeds.

Welcome to Episode 29 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community. You can subscribe to The Robot Report Podcast on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify and more. Please subscribe to the podcast and leave us a…

Scientists often look to nature for cues when designing robots – some robots mimic human hands while others simulate the actions of octopus arms or inchworms. Now, researchers in the University of Georgia College of Engineering have designed a new soft robotic gripper that draws inspiration from an unusual source: pole beans. While pole beans…

Piab has extended its piSoftgrip family with a new pinch gripper developed for the automation of the food/chocolate industry. The vacuum-based soft gripper can grip sensitive and lightweight oblong objects with odd geometries and/or objects with an unusual surface. piSoftgrip has two gripping fingers and a sealed vacuum cavity, all made in one piece, resulting…

As robotics and automation expand to new markets, startup Bobacino brings a customizable and futuristic splash to a time-honored tradition of bubble tea.

The 2FG7 parallel gripper offers a maximum payload of 11 kg (24.3 lb), an external grip range of up to 74 mm (2.91 in) and a gripping force of between 20-140 N.

Nature has inspired engineers at UNSW Sydney to develop a soft fabric robotic gripper that behaves like an elephant’s trunk to grasp, pick up and release objects without breaking them. The researchers say the versatile technology could be widely applied in sectors where fragile objects are handled, such as agriculture, food and the scientific and…

As robots become more flexible and enter new industries, they need to be as precise as possible. FAULHABER MICROMO said its configurable precision drives are necessary in numerous applications.

After reflecting on his travels across the U.S. and the problem of food insecurity, columnist Oliver Mitchell talks to a roboticist automating mushroom harvesting, demonstrating robotics’ potential in agriculture.

Toyota Research Institute demonstrated its research into machine learning, simulation, and manipulation in a virtual open house, which included a ceiling-mounted kitchen gantry robot.

The Soft Bubble Gripper developed by a Toyota Research Institute team combines sensors and advanced materials to more safely handle objects in a step toward household robots.