First certified industrial gripper for collaborative operation

By Niraj M Wanikar, Chief Editor, CNCTimes.com, 2017-10-17 00:31:00

SCHUNK is building on its advantage when it comes to grippers for collaborative operation: with the SCHUNK Co-act gripper EGP-C, the competence leader for gripping systems and clamping technology is presenting for the first time an inherently safe industrial gripper that is certified and approved for collaborative operation by the German Social Accident Insurance DGUV. The certificate simplifies the safety observation for collaborative applications and shortens the time requirement. The compact 2 finger parallel gripper enclosed with a collision protection cover covers a wide range of applications – from a small component assembly in electronics and consumer goods industry right up to assembly applications in the automotive sector. At SCHUNK, the EGP-C Co-act is already prototypical of an HRC workstation in gripper assembly. Here, the worker takes on assembly and quality control, while the robot removes adhesive residues on a sharp-edged extraction plate with the gripper. This improves ergonomics and minimizes the risk of injury for the employee. The EGP-C Co-act satisfies the requirements of ISO/TS 15066 and is designed so that it cannot injure a person. A safe current limitation ensures that the requirements for collaborative applications are reliably satisfied. The gripper can be controlled extremely simply and via digital I/O. Thanks to an operating voltage of 24V DC, it is also suitable for mobile applications.

Simplified safety observation for overall application

The EGP-C Co-act is supplied as a completely pre-assembled unit with the right interface for the robots of KUKA, Fanuc or Universal Robots. Interfaces for robots from other manufacturers are possible upon request. Furthermore, programming modules are envisaged for all conventional cobots which will further reduce the commissioning effort. The entire regulation and power electronics are fitted in the interior of the gripper, meaning they don't take up any space in the electrical cabinet. Brushless and thus maintenance-free servomotors as well as a powerful junction roller guides guarantee a high level of efficiency and transforms it into a dynamic and high-performance expert for demanding to handle of small and medium-sized parts. Within the reliable finger length, the gripper fingers obtain an approximately constant gripping force and speed over the entire stroke. In order to make the collaboration with the operator as fluid and as intuitive as possible, the gripper is fitted with LED lighting in traffic light colours, by means of which the user can signal the respective condition of the module. The certified gripper for small components is available from the first quarter of 2018 in size 40 with a finger stroke of 6 mm and a maximum workpiece weight of 0.7 kg. The gripping force can be adjusted by means of a rotary encoding switch in several increments. Additional sizes will follow in the first half of 2018.

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