The BarrettHand grasper – programmably flexible part handling and assembly

Abstract

This paper details the design and operation of the BarrettHand BH8‐250, an intelligent, highly flexible eight‐axis gripper that reconfigures itself in real time to conform securely to a wide variety of part shapes without tool‐change interruptions. The grasper brings enormous value to factory automation because it: reduces the required number and size of robotic workcells (which average US$90,000 each – not including the high cost of footprint) while boosting factory thoughput; consolidates the hodgepodge proliferation of customized gripper‐jaw shapes onto a common programmable platform; and enables incremental process improvement and accommodates frequent new‐product introductions, capabilities deployed instantly via software across international networks of factories.