ACROGRIP: Automated selection of robotic grippers, sensoring and path planning. (ACROGRIP)

The ACROGRIP project aims to support Flemish companies in their search for the most suitable grippers by (1) conducting an extensive academic and industrial technology review, (2) developing a selection method and accompanying open web tool, and (3) organizing use cases and a testing ground for evaluating the applicability of flexible and innovative gripping techniques.

Main achievements:

1. Technology review with corresponding taxonomy of both conventional rigid and soft gripping princeples

2. Development of an online gripper selection tool

3. Ten executed and documented use cases about: area and foam grippers; manipulation tools with adaptive stiffness; vision technology for random bin picking; safe design of robotic systems and grippers; grasping of unknown objects; path planning for gripping devices; manipulation of sensitive and deformable objects; food safety of robotic systems and grippers; manipulation of large and heavy parts with variable dimensions; benchmark of grippers for the manipulation of hard fruit.

4. Organisation of an industrial test lab on flexible product manipulation and robotic grippers. This test lab remains open after the end of the project.

5. Support of industrial partners towards industrial innovations and/or follow up research activities. 

6. Publications and dissemination activeties (e.g. open seminar on gripping technologies).

7. Close link towards eduction via bachelor thesis projects, small research labs and 10 master thesis projects in close collaboration with industrial partners. 

The ACROGRIP project results are available via the project website: www.acrogrip.be

For more info: Karel.Kellens@kuleuven.be