For manufacturers, the product-miniaturization trend is kind of a Catch-22. They know that serving a large and ever-expanding marketplace ensures company growth—so long as their robots can precisely place ever-smaller parts into subassemblies, final assemblies or packaging. Specially designed small grippers and vacuum cups have enabled many manufacturers to achieve both goals.
One such company is a large Connecticut-based manufacturer of small hypodermic needles for syringes and IVs. The company uses customized Tecnomors QRP pneumatic parallel grippers (sold by Applied Robotics) to quickly grab and package hundreds of needles per hour. It switched to this series three years ago because off-the-shelf pneumatic grippers wore out too quickly due to the plant’s high production rate.