Make fingers open and close with equal force in order to grasp and release parts from the inside or out. Grippers with a higher stroke width support a wider grip. Connect them to robot tool mounts using gripper configuration kits.

Air-powered grippers run on compressed air. Electric-powered grippers let you adjust their gripping force digitally, so you can adapt to fragile and sensitive parts. They have wire leads to wire to a plug or hardwire to a power source.

Parallel grippers handle a broad range of sizes and shapes, including cube-shaped and cylindrical parts. Circular grippers hold small cylindrical parts more snugly and centered than parallel grippers. However, they can’t hold cube-shaped parts.

You’ll need to add fingers for grippers to grasp parts. Fingers are made up of a mounting post and an insert that attaches to the post. Each of these kits includes aluminum-grip and rubber-grip fingers, but you can machine your own insert if you need a custom grip. Aluminum-grip fingers have a rigid and firm hold that works well with cylindrical parts. Rubber-grip fingers are cushioned to grasp sensitive or non-cylindrical parts.

Connect grippers to the end of your robot arm. Each of these mounts is compatible with a specific ISO mounting hole pattern, so choose one that matches your configuration.

Mounts with an air outlet block and power/signal block work with air-powered grippers. These mounts give you the functionality to control the airflow used to open and close fingers and add sensors to send signals to trigger actions in your system. You'll need a sensor cord splitter to distribute the signal to sensors with programmable two-position detection.

These kits include hardware for connecting up to two grippers to a robot tool mount, as well as structural framing for extending or offsetting the grippers. Use them to try different configurations and find what works best for your application.

Signal when fingers are either open or closed, and use that information to trigger other actions in your system.

Magnetic sensors detect finger position by responding to magnets placed on the piston of air-powered grippers or the motor of electric-powered grippers. Sensors with programmable two-position detection send a signal when fingers open and close, letting you trigger actions in your system based on both signals.

Inductive sensors respond to a metallic flag on the gripper. However, these sensors aren't best for machining applications since metallic debris can accidentally trigger them. Series KGG and MPG+ grippers need a sensor mounting adapter to accept inductive sensors.

Sensors with a plug connection work with the input/output on robot tool mounts with a power/signal block. Sensors with a hardwire connection have wire leads you either wire to a plug or hardwire to a power source.

PNP sensors communicate proximity with a positive signal, while NPN send a negative signal.