Getting a grip on the future

Citation

Loughlin, C. (2005), "Getting a grip on the future", Industrial Robot, Vol. 32 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2005.04932aaa.001

Getting a grip on the future

Getting a grip on the future

Although some research departments are working on new robot arm designs, the number of such projects is far less than those working on the development of intelligent end-effectors.

Most new developments follow an “S” curve where progress is slow at first, then rapid, and then slows down again as the potential for significant improvement gets reduced by the very significant advances that have already been made.

Robot mechanisms and controls are now so well developed that it must be increasingly hard for companies to justify additional research expenditure. If you can lay down a bead of adhesive to an accuracy of 1 mm you are probably OK for most applications. If you can do it to 0.1 mm you should be feeling very happy with yourself. And if you can do it to within 0.01 mm then you should probably be sacked for wasting your time.

By contrast the development of intelligent manipulation and grasping techniques (our theme for this issue) is now in the very exciting steep bit of our “S” curve.

For years robot grippers were simple two jaw pneumatic clamps with little or no sensing or “intelligence”. Most development work was based on this basic system, but customised for a particular part. Robot manufacturers had other things to think about, and in many ways they still do. These days they concentrate on off-line programming, internet linking and have a top priority of getting the price down. As a ruler robot manufacturers still have very little to do with what happens beyond the end of the wrist – so it is just as well that universities, and a few adventurous companies, have now taken the subject to their heart.

Robots with simple end-effectors will always have a place in our factories, and in most cases existing grippers are very adequate for the task. They do a simple job reliably and we can ask no more. However, if you venture away from the uniform, repetitive requirements of the assembly line, these clunk-click grippers are very nearly useless.

What is needed are grippers that can accommodate a wide variety of different parts and be able to exert sufficient force to do the job, but also sense how much force they are applying, and thereby avoid damaging the part or themselves.

This issue includes a cornucopia of different grippers and methods of gripping – enjoy.

Clive Loughlin