Automatic reconfiguration of flexible robot gripping system

Typical gripping systems for industrial robots have a predefined geometry which is suitable for only a specific part. The reutilization for other parts is restricted and associated with high effort for manual changeover. The presented paper shows a flexible gripping system with the possibility of self-adaptation to different workpieces. The adaptation is based on a robot-guided gripping system having a large number of passive joints without motion drives. These passive joints are normally fixed during operation and can be released in case of reconfiguration. The robot trajectory to reconfigure the gripping system is calculated using the 3D CAD data of the part. Restraints during the robot reconfiguration will be compensated with a sensor-controlled algorithm.