Choosing or building a robot gripper
What you are picking up decides the mechanism. This guide sorts the options by the objects they handle and lists the parts for each.
IntermediateTarget budget €250.00From €63.46 with the cheapest option at every step
1.Parallel jaws for regular shapes
Two jaws closing on a common axis. Predictable, easy to model, and it drops anything that is not roughly prismatic. Grip force comes from the actuator and the mechanical advantage of the linkage, so a small servo with a good linkage beats a large servo with a poor one.
Assembly
- Measure the widest and narrowest object you need to hold, and check the published jaw travel covers both.
- Line the jaws with a compliant material, since rigid jaws mark soft parts and slip on hard ones.
- Add a current limit on the actuator so a missed grasp does not stall it against the object.
2.Suction for flat surfaces
A vacuum cup handles flat, smooth and light objects better than any jaw, and it fails completely on anything porous or textured. The pump is the noisy, power-hungry part of the system and it runs whenever the object is held.
3.Adaptive fingers for irregular objects
Underactuated fingers wrap around whatever they touch, driven by one actuator through a tendon or a linkage. They handle variety without any perception at all, which is their real advantage, and they hold less firmly than a parallel jaw at equal actuator size.
4.Feedback
Without feedback the gripper cannot tell a successful grasp from a closed empty hand. A force sensing resistor on the jaw face is the cheapest answer and reports contact rather than force. Reading the actuator current is free and reports load rather than contact.
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