Keywords
Citation
Rigelsford, J. (2003), "Robotic end effector", Industrial Robot, Vol. 30 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2003.04930dad.007
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited
Robotic end effector
Robotic end effector
Keywords: Robotics, Patents, ABB
Applicant: ABB Automation, Inc., USAPatent number: US6,474,047Publication date: 5 November 2002Title: Robotic End Effector with Counter-rotating Fingers
This patent describes a robotic end effector used to load mail trays of different shapes and sizes into containers.
The end effector includes a pair of carriages, where each carriage supports a pair of fingers and at least one actuator, which is interconnected with the associated pair of fingers to counter-rotate them. A change-out mechanism may also be provided to facilitate the replacement of the fingers. At least one of the carriages is movable toward the other carriage to grasp a tray between the respective pairs of fingers. The robot can move the end effector between the conveyor system and the shipping containers for shipping the trays. As the pairs of fingers counter-rotate, the friction forces between each finger and the tray is offset by the friction forces between the other finger in the pair and the tray. This enables the invention to maintain the trays in the desired stacking orientation within the shipping container.