Task-driven design of a re-configurable gripper for the robotic picking and handling of limp sheets

The paper deals with an innovative device, enabling multi-point grasp, firm hold and gentle transfer of limp sheets to the sorting buffers, before the feeding of the assembly sections. The design process avails of fully implemented digital mock-ups and runs extended virtual trims, to accomplish the analysis of the prospected fixture dynamical behaviour, as stand-alone device and as integrated end-effector of a robotic environment. The finally selected equipment consists in a triple bracket (connected to a cartesian arm), with two-phalanxes ends, each bearing a suction cup; the fingers mobility grants adaptive picking and transfer operations. The simulation on the digital mock-ups is valuable means at the design steps; moreover, it supplies suitable reference knowledge for life-cycle evaluations based on task consistency tests performed on virtual prototypes.