August 3, 2018—Danish manufacturer OnRobot announced that its self-cleaning Gecko Gripper won the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award (IERA) at the 50th International Symposium on Robotics in Munich this summer. The technology offers an approach for collaborative industrial robotics and makes applications possible in areas such as sheet metal processing or in the fabrication of solar panels.
Since 2005, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE/RAS) and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) have honoured companies for pioneering achievements in the field of automation technology. The Gecko Gripper is based on a concept developed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Stanford University: Due to strong Van der Waals forces, millions of microscopically small fibres on the gripper’s four surfaces adhere to workpieces pressed against it. The adhesion works just like that of gecko feet, even on smooth surfaces.
The Gecko Gripper is an adhesive gripping system. In contrast to conventional vacuum grippers, the system can lift and deposit materials with holes or porous workpieces such as printed circuit boards. Adhesion happens residue-free. Light pressure is sufficient to ensure that a workpiece adheres.
Although the adhesive process requires some electricity to engage, the grip does not diminish, even in the event of power failure. At the same time, failure-prone compressed air and hose systems are no longer needed. Its payload reaches up to eight kilograms, depending on the surface structure and contamination of the objects to be lifted. An integrated sensor automatically detects workpieces with a thickness of up to 240 millimetres and determines the necessary force for a secure adhesion process.
As a result, pick-and-place tasks involving long, flat workpieces such as solar panels, in glass production or sheet metal processing, can be automated. The gripper is also suitable for handling ceramic tiles, screens, windscreens or lids of cosmetics, guaranteeing a wide range of applications. It is compatible with Universal Robots, Kawasaki and Fanuc robot arms.