Claw is a common end effector, which is a component installed on the arm of an industrial robot to directly grasp or operate workpieces. It has the functions of clamping, conveying, and placing workpieces to a certain position. From a morphological perspective, the gripper can be a product with fingers like a human hand, such as three finger or five finger products, or it can be a palm without fingers, such as a parallel two finger gripper, which can be a humanoid claw.

In terms of driving methods, grippers can be divided into three types: hydraulic drive, pneumatic drive, and electric drive. Hydraulic end effectors are convenient for speed regulation, but they have high pressure, high system costs, and are difficult to maintain. Pneumatic end effectors have become widely used in the industrial field due to their low cost and diverse product models. However, unstable air pressure output can lead to insufficient clamping force, making workpieces prone to detachment. Compared to pneumatic grippers, electric grippers can be digitally controlled, allowing for control of speed, position, and clamping force. It has the advantages of multi-point control and output force, as well as high flexibility, making it more suitable for the current production line's demand for flexibility. After several years of development, the application boundaries of electric grippers have gradually expanded, from robots to industrial automation, and the number of new manufacturers has rapidly increased. Despite the high flexibility and precision of electric grippers compared to pneumatic grippers, pneumatic grippers still dominate the current gripper market due to various factors such as price, technology, and customer trust.

Electric end effectors are superior in performance and structure to hydraulic and pneumatic end effectors, and are the future development trend of the end effector industry. Compared with pneumatic end effectors, it uses electric drive to replace components such as air source, filter, solenoid valve, etc. of pneumatic end effectors. Compared with hydraulic end effectors, its system is easy to maintain, does not require the use of hydraulic energy, and can reduce energy pollution.

Two finger claws are commonly used in industry, in addition to two finger claws, there are also three finger claws. Generally, through electronic control, the angle and force can be adjusted to achieve grasping of complex scenes. Like this three finger claw, it has 7 degrees of freedom and is already very flexible. Compared with traditional rigid palms, the application of multi degree of freedom grippers greatly improves the dexterity and maneuverability of multi finger dexterous hands.

In addition to these traditional rigid grippers, there are also pneumatic flexible grippers. Traditional fixation devices are often limited by the shape, material, and gripping requirements of objects, and cannot provide successful gripping solutions. The flexible gripper is made of flexible materials, with strong versatility and no need to frequently replace the gripper. The clamping force can be adjusted as needed, so that fragile products will not be pinched or damaged when grasped, and there will be no scratches on the surface of the product. Flexible claws can adaptively cover target objects without knowing their shape and size beforehand, which to some extent solves the problem of large-scale automated production of irregular and vulnerable items. It can be well applied in food, medicine, fresh fruits and vegetables, 3C electronic sorting and other scenarios, and may have great development in the future.