L5 - ROBOTICS(ME3102T)

GRIPPERS
Dr. A. S. Rao
Lab-in-charge:
Technical Excellence Centre
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI)
Mumbai-400019
WRIST

It is used to position the hand or end effector to the

desired orientation with the work.
Wrist Motion
1. Pitch - Up and Down
2. Roll - Rotation around the axis of forward motion.
3. Yaw - Back and Forth
Grippers
The gripper or hand of the robot attaches to the wrist end of the arm and
serves to handle or process parts.

The Mobile Armatron Wrist The Armatron Wrist

AR-1 Welding robot Differential Wrist
Human and Robot Grippers
Stepper Motor

Figure - Three phase permanent magnet stepper motor

Stepper Motor

Stepper motors are multi pole motors that

advance their rotor by one pole for each voltage
pulse they receive. Figure shows a cross section
of a three phase windings. The rotor in figure is
shown after the phase A winding has been
activated. Residual magnetism is usually sufficient
to hold the rotor in this position after the phase A
winding is deactivated, although the winding can
be kept activated to increase the holding force, if
necessary.
Stepper Motor

If the phase B winding is activated next, the

rotor will turn counter clockwise to align with the B
stator poles. (The counterclockwise direction of
movement is due to the fact that the rotor pole at stator
pole A.) If the phase winding are alternately activated
in the sequence A,B,C,A,B,C,......, the rotor will rotate
counterclockwise. If instead the phase windings are
alternately activated in the sequence A,C,B,A,C,B,.....,
the rotor will rotate clockwise.
End of Arm Tooling

The robot’s end of arm tooling

known as a gripper, a hand or an
end effector. It attaches to the
wrist end of the arm and may
serve either to handle parts or to
process parts.

Figure shows the human hand

with its 22 DOFs. No robot gripper
even approaches the human
hand’s versatility.
End of arm tooling for robots can be
subdivided into two categories

1. Grippers for moving parts and materials.

1. Tools for working on parts and materials.

1. Grippers for moving parts and materials.

1. Multi Finger gripper 2. Clamps

1. Grippers for moving parts and materials.

3. Vacuum Cups 4. Hooks

1. Grippers for moving parts and materials.

5. Magnetic devices 6. Sticky fingers

2. Tools for working on parts and materials.

1. Drills 2. Torches
2. Tools for working on parts and materials.

3. Screw Drivers 4. Spray- Painting Heads

Force Required for Vertical Grasp
The effective force required to hold a part when grasping it in a vertical
direction and moving it in a vertical direction is

Fr = W * G

Where, Fr = Required Force

W = Weight of part

G = Gravitational force

Force with safety factor

Fs = Fr * S

Where, Fs = Force with safety factor added in

S = Safety factor
Torque

T= W*d

Where, T = Torque

W = Weight of part

d = Distance at which weight is applied

Weight

W=m*G

Where , M = Mass of the part

Force Required for Horizontal Grasp

The force (torque) required to hold a part horizontally at other than the
part’s center is moving it in a vertical direction is

Where, d = Distance between CG to CF

b = Width of the gripper

p = Thickness of part

G = Gravitational force
 Question 1

Determine how much force the jaws of a gripper must exert to hold a part in a
vertical plane under the following conditions:

1. The part weighs 20 pounds and is of a non uniform shape.

2. The gripper jaws are parallel to each other and are grasping the part by its
vertical sides.
3. The part is grasped 24 inches from its center of gravity.
4. The jaws gripping surface is 4 inches wide
5. The part is 2 inches thick at the point where is being grasped
6. The part is being lifted with maximum acceleration of 2.5 G’s, including
normal gravitational force
7. The coefficient of friction between the part and gripper is 0.85
8. A factor of safety of 2 must be included.
Solution:

First we must determine what information we need to solve this problem since the
gripper is both grasping and moving in a vertical plane, we do not need to know
about conditions (3), (4), (5). The part exerts a stationary force of 20 pounds.
Moving at 2.5 G’s, this force becomes 20*2.5=50 pounds. The coeff. of friction
of 0.85 means that the 50 pounds represent only 85% of the force required by the
gripper to work against the load. Therefore we take a ratio of

50:0.85 ~ x:1. The required force x = 58.82 pounds. Since

x = 50/0.85 = 58.82

To build in the factor of safety of 2 we simply multiply 58.82 by 2 this gives

product of 117.64 pounds. I.e. the total force required by gripper to handle 20
pound part in this task is 117.64 pounds.
 What force is required if the gripper operates under the same
Question 2 conditions as in Problem 1, but in a horizontal plane? Figure
depicts these conditions and the stationary forces involved.
The equation for the torque is

T = m*G*d

= F2 (b/2) + F1 (b/2)

= (b/2) ( F1 + F2 )

Ignoring p,

F1 +F2 = 2 (m * G * d) / b

Including p,

F1 +F2 = 2 (m * G * d) / √(b2 + p2)

By Newton’s First law

F1 = F 2

In this case, the gripper provides both forces, so

F = F 1 + F2

Thus,

F = 2 ( m * G * d ) / √(b2 + p2)

= 2 ( 2 * 20 * 24 ) / √(42 + 22)

= 214.66 Pounds
Question 3

What would be the required force if the jaws were 8 inches wide in
Problem 2?

F = ( 2 * 20 * 24 ) / √(82 + 22)

= 116.417 Pounds
Exercise
Que.1 Calculate how much force the jaws of a gripper must apply to hold a part
in a vertical plane under the following conditions:

1. The part weighs 60 pounds and has a non uniform shape.

2. The gripper jaws are parallel to each other grasp in a vertical plane.
3. The part is grasped 20 inches from its center of gravity.
4. The jaws gripping the surface are 15 inches wide.
5. The part is 1.75 inches thick at the point where it is being grasped.
6. The part is being lifted with a maximum acceleration of 4 G’s including
normal gravitational force.
7. The coefficient of friction between the part and the gripper is 0.65.
8. A safety factor of 2 must be included.

Figure 1 shows the situation.

Figure 1
Que. 2 What would the required force be if the gripper operates under the same
conditions as in Question 1, but in a horizontal plane? Figure 2 represent this situation.

Que. 3 What would the required force be if the jaws 8 inches wide in Question 2

Figure 2