Robot hand uses static electricity to pick up almost anything – with no moving parts
Hands are complicated
contraptions expertly shaped through uncountable generations of
evolution to pick stuff up. It should come as no surprise then that
creating similar graspers for robots
has proven difficult. A firm called Grabit is approaching the problem
from a different angle. Its new gripper technology (also called Grabit)
doesn’t rely on applying mechanical force to hold an object, it uses
static electricity.
For a robot to be truly useful, it needs to integrate into a world designed for humans. That means they need to be able to pick things up, and the Grabit hand can definitely do that. The company showed off its latest grippers at the recent RoboBusiness conference in Boston, and they’re undeniably cool. The video below shows a simple version picking up an apple and various cans without any trouble. Note, it’s not applying pressure with those wires. The objects are basically stuck to the grabbers like when the pages of a book won’t come apart.
The Grabit needs to have enough surface area to hold the object, of course, but the technology currently works just fine up to about 50 pounds (23 kilos). It could scale even higher if the object has enough available surface area. Grabit can stick to wood, glass, fabric, metal, and more. The company actually lists the strength of its grippers based on surface area and orientation. If you’ve got a sheet of metal, Grabit can lift 4 grams per square centimeter of available surface. So something the size of an iPad could be over 3.5 lbs (1.6 kg) and take a trip on a Grabit mounted horizontally. If oriented vertically, the capacity would jump to 17.5 lbs (8 kg). The capacity is lower for other materials, though.
Part of the challenge in making electrostatic attraction work for lifting objects was developing a material that conducts the charge well but is still flexible enough to maximize surface contact, even for oddly shaped items. Grabit uses powered electrodes (the wires you can see in the video above) to relay a current through the flexible pads that maintain an electrostatic attraction. It also alternates polarities to avoid charge build up and to keep dust from sticking to the surface, which would lower its lifting capacity.
When comparing Grabit to conventional grasping appendages, the possible benefits are not only the lower cost of Grabit, but less maintenance. Even if you’re not buying expensive parts for a traditional robotic grasper, it needs a lot of care to remain in full working order — it’s a complex machine after all. The Grabit pads doing all the work have no moving parts. This isn’t the first technology to try and improve upon the complexity of robotic hands, though. Some robots use vacuum to pick up objects, but Grabit points out the size of the payload is somewhat small and it’s harder to distribute the weight evenly with these systems.
Grabit was founded in 2011 and is still working to perfect its technology, but it might not be long before an electrostatic robot arm is putting together your Amazon orders.
Hands are complicated
contraptions expertly shaped through uncountable generations of
evolution to pick stuff up. It should come as no surprise then that
creating similar graspers for robots
has proven difficult. A firm called Grabit is approaching the problem
from a different angle. Its new gripper technology (also called Grabit)
doesn’t rely on applying mechanical force to hold an object, it uses
static electricity.For a robot to be truly useful, it needs to integrate into a world designed for humans. That means they need to be able to pick things up, and the Grabit hand can definitely do that. The company showed off its latest grippers at the recent RoboBusiness conference in Boston, and they’re undeniably cool. The video below shows a simple version picking up an apple and various cans without any trouble. Note, it’s not applying pressure with those wires. The objects are basically stuck to the grabbers like when the pages of a book won’t come apart.
The Grabit needs to have enough surface area to hold the object, of course, but the technology currently works just fine up to about 50 pounds (23 kilos). It could scale even higher if the object has enough available surface area. Grabit can stick to wood, glass, fabric, metal, and more. The company actually lists the strength of its grippers based on surface area and orientation. If you’ve got a sheet of metal, Grabit can lift 4 grams per square centimeter of available surface. So something the size of an iPad could be over 3.5 lbs (1.6 kg) and take a trip on a Grabit mounted horizontally. If oriented vertically, the capacity would jump to 17.5 lbs (8 kg). The capacity is lower for other materials, though.
Part of the challenge in making electrostatic attraction work for lifting objects was developing a material that conducts the charge well but is still flexible enough to maximize surface contact, even for oddly shaped items. Grabit uses powered electrodes (the wires you can see in the video above) to relay a current through the flexible pads that maintain an electrostatic attraction. It also alternates polarities to avoid charge build up and to keep dust from sticking to the surface, which would lower its lifting capacity.
When comparing Grabit to conventional grasping appendages, the possible benefits are not only the lower cost of Grabit, but less maintenance. Even if you’re not buying expensive parts for a traditional robotic grasper, it needs a lot of care to remain in full working order — it’s a complex machine after all. The Grabit pads doing all the work have no moving parts. This isn’t the first technology to try and improve upon the complexity of robotic hands, though. Some robots use vacuum to pick up objects, but Grabit points out the size of the payload is somewhat small and it’s harder to distribute the weight evenly with these systems.
Grabit was founded in 2011 and is still working to perfect its technology, but it might not be long before an electrostatic robot arm is putting together your Amazon orders.
Robot hand uses static electricity to pick up almost anything – with no moving parts