Integrating grippers with robot arms is often one of the biggest headaches when developing new robotic applications. A major obstacle is mismatched I/O signals between the end-of-arm-tooling (EOAT) and the robot arm. To address this challenge, OnRobot is launching the new Digital I/O Converter Kit to support seamless integration of its RG2, RG6, Gecko, and VG10 grippers with a wider range of both collaborative robots (cobots) and traditional robotic arms. A small converter device, the Digital I/O Converter now facilitates out-of-box integration with KUKA, FANUC, Yaskawa, Kawasaki, Doosan, Nachi, and Techman robot arms.
OnRobot’s booth 6773 at the Automate 2019 show in Chicago, April 8-11, will exhibit applications with these robot arms while also showing its grippers on Universal Robots that integrates OnRobot products through the UR+ platform.
Getting the signal right
As different robot arms understand I/O signals differently, the Digital I/O Converter Kit works by converting NPN to PNP signals, and vice versa, which means programmers don’t have to worry about the robots and grippers not understanding the signals received. The Converter Kit also includes an adapter plate to convert the OnRobot standard mounting flange to match the robot’s flange.
Opens doors to new applications and industries
At OnRobot’s Automate booth, JHF will exhibit a Kawasaki RS007N robot arm with the new VG10 vacuum gripper that requires no external air supply featuring a double-grip function enabling it to handle several items in a single operation.
Another highlight at OnRobot’s Automate booth is the new Gecko Gripper using the Converter Kit for integration on Yaskawa’s HC10 robot. The Gecko gripper uses millions of micro-scaled fibrillar stalks that adhere to a surface using powerful van der Waals forces – the same way that geckos climb.