End-of-arm grippers play a significant role in enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of industrial robots, a crucial insight for controls engineers in factory and plant machinery.
Traditionally, these grippers have been made from heavy metals, leading to excessive energy consumption and resource use. However, Automation World reports, a shift towards lightweight additive manufacturing (AM) techniques is transforming gripper design.
This shift is particularly relevant given the scale of robotic deployment worldwide, with over 3.5 million units in operation and more than 500,000 new robots entering the market annually. Lightweight AM grippers can significantly reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions, offering a substantial opportunity for environmental impact mitigation. This is especially true in industries like automotive manufacturing, where robots frequently handle large but lightweight objects such as sheet metal panels.
Siemens' adoption of advanced design tools and additive manufacturing technologies exemplifies this transformation. Utilizing fully associative topology optimization through software like Siemens NX Additive Manufacturing, the design process is accelerated, allowing for real-time modifications to optimize performance.
This approach minimizes weight without compromising strength or functionality, leading to cost and time savings. Additionally, Siemens Tecnomatix Process Simulate, a simulation tool, can help quantify the environmental and cost implications of gripper design iterations. By calculating energy consumption and CO2 emissions, manufacturers can prioritize sustainability while maintaining operational efficiency.
Automation World, a Control Design partner publication, explores the many roles of end-of-arm grippers in machinery in this article.
