The BarrettHand grasper - programmably flexible part handling and assembly

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 too l-change interruptions. The grasper brings enormous value to factory automa tion because it: reduces the required number and size of robotic workcells (which average US$90,000 each - not including the high cost of footprint) w hile boosting factory thoughput; consolidates the hodgepodge proliferation of customized gripper-jaw shapes onto a common programmable platform; and e nables incremental process improvement and accommodates frequent new-produc t introductions, capabilities deployed instantly via software across intern ational networks of factories.