Advantages and Characteristics of Electric Grippers

In the new era of rapid scientific and technological development, many industrial productions have started to transform towards automation, and electric grippers have been widely applied. During the development of China's industrial automation, a large number of high - productivity and high - precision machining equipment were imported from abroad. Electric gripper products have significantly increased the working speed and the machining accuracy of products, and reduced the labor intensity, thus they are very popular.

With the explosive growth of collaborative robotic arms, the demand for highly dexterous and adaptable grippers in the robotics industry is also increasing rapidly. Electric grippers have relatively low requirements for on - site environmental conditions. As long as a power supply and signal lines are available, the correct position can be controlled simultaneously. Moreover, their stroke and force are variable, so they can be applied to various grasping tasks and are suitable for more scenarios.

For industrial robots, material handling is an important application in their operations. It is a general - purpose device, and whether its tasks can be completed smoothly directly depends on the gripper mechanism. Therefore, the end - effector needs to be designed according to the actual tasks and working environments, which has led to a variety of structures.

At present, most of the pneumatic and electric actuators in the domestic market are selected for engineering projects or customized by integrators. They have a single mode, very limited stroke, and non - adjustable clamping force. The pneumatic solution has strict requirements for the air source and accessories and can only be used in single - station and workplaces. Even in many existing solutions, by adding a quick - change device to replace different fixtures to adapt to each object, the number, cost, and programming of the fixtures still face challenges. Generally speaking, they are not sufficient to meet the growing demands for diversification, flexibility, and intelligence in industrial production.

Electric grippers adopt a stepper motor with an encoder and a single - axis drive with a ground ball screw, achieving the advantages of high speed, rigidity, and small size. You can set the clamping position, speed, and acceleration/deceleration.

It is suitable for objects of all sizes. The fingers have a large opening and closing range, and the finger grasping and repeat positioning accuracy is higher than 0.02 mm, which can meet different size and scene conditions.

It is suitable for objects of different hardness. The gripping force can be continuously adjusted from small to large, with a value above 100N. The grip can be either rigid or flexible.

Electric grippers include a motor, reducer, linkage mechanism, servo drive, and control system. They do not require external connections, have a compact structure, small size, and a high protection level. They feature mechanical self - locking. They can still remain stable when power is off, have low power consumption, improved safety and stability, a long product lifespan, and good stability, making them suitable for industrial applications.

With the rapid iteration of products in many industries, the demand for customized production is becoming more and more intense. These industries have increasingly strict requirements for the diversity of automated production lines and flexible manufacturing capabilities. The development of end - effectors can even simplify the technological process to some extent. Electric grippers can grasp various objects, and due to the advantages of flexible production lines, they can play an important role in flexible production.