Mahbub Ahmed
Createc
Oct 1, 2022
Period
- 2022
Robot
Kuka IIWA 14
Title
Working on an experimental teleoperated system to pick and place objects. Was previously using a pneumatically controlled gripper which whilst performing okay did not always have a secure grip unless the object was large enough. We needed finer control and a more secure/repeatable grip which the hand-e gripper provided.
Despite it being a bit of a pain to integrate, I would still recommend as a very good gripper.
Pro
The Hand-e performs well in serveral areas:
- provides a strong and secure grip
- can control the jaw position of the grip
- can control the max force and max velocity at which the gripper closes
- gripper can detect when an object has been gripped
- seems very durable and well made (time will tell)
- readily integrated with UR robots with its own urcap
- can mount different sets of gripper fingers
Con
One of the major cons is that if you're using the gripper with robots that the gripper is not readily integrated with you will need to purchase the separate Robotiq Universal Controller and associated cables and adaptor mount. The IIWA 14 is one such robot that requires this. On top I needed to integrate the gripper with ROS, for which as of the current date there are no readily supported packages/drivers and hence needs some embedded systems knowledge to program the controller. The Robotiq technical support more or less advised that I was on my own when it came to integrating the controller and gripper with ROS. The documentation provides the information on what registers conduct what actions but this information is not always clear and the whole document is somewhat convoluted.
In the end, I managed to write the driver and ROS package and did get it working and it performs very well, however there are some issues:
- firstly upon startup the gripper does not always respond straight away, seems to take a few minutes to start up (though this may be an issue with my driver or ROS package, but I've identified any supposed issues with the logic)
- whilst running the controller seemingly just stops responding? And only works once turned off and left off for a few minutes (some kind of reset?)
- the stroke width of the gripper is quite small - only 50mm, although this could be somewhat resolved by using a different set of gripper fingers
- the gripper has quite a long profile (okay for picks from above but can become cumbersome for side grips, particularly in a small workspace)
Deepak Ajayakumar
Createc
Sep 12, 2022
Period
- 2022
Robot
UR10 + Robotiq Hand-e gripper
Title
Reliable plug and play gripper for UR robots
Pro
Integration with UR robot is simple and straightforward with urcap. The gripper can be connected to a computer using the Robotiq UI software which can be installed on windows and can be operated easily for testing purposes. The URCap will allow easy operation of the gripper through the UI and can also set the torque limits through the interface. The Robotiq website provides the TCP and Center of Mass Table which are useful for payload configuration.
Con
It is hard to operate/control the gripper from Linux systems. The process to establish communication with a Linux PC is complicated as needs to switch between network configuration and com protocols. The gripper is not plug and play with KUKA robots but can be used with KUKA robot's with Robotiq's universal controller.