A robotic kitchen assistant for frying includes a robotic arm, a fryer basket, and a robotic arm adapter assembly allowing the robotic arm to pick up and manipulate the fryer basket. The robotic arm adapter includes opposing gripping members to engage the fryer basket. A utensil adapter assembly is mounted to the handle of the fryer basket, and the opposing gripper members are actuated to capture a three-dimensional (3D) feature of the utensil adapter assembly. The robotic arm adapter assembly can include an agitator mechanism to shake the fryer basket or another utensil as desired. Related methods are also described.

A soft robotic gripper having component parts capable of being assembled in the field at the terminus of an industrial robot arm for providing adaptive gripping of a product. A hub includes a pneumatic inlet leading to outlets. Finger mounts with pneumatic passages hold inflatable fingers, and tension fastener(s) secure and compress the finger mounts toward the hub by passing through the pneumatic passages and fastening under tension in a direction of the hub.

Gripping or clamping device comprising a housing body and at least one jaw guide which is provided in the housing body and has two lateral walls, including at least one jaw which can be moved in the jaw guide along a movement direction, guide surfaces being provided on the lateral walls and the jaw having sliding surfaces which interact with the guide surfaces to form a sliding guide, characterized in that at least one raceway part and rolling elements are provided in the jaw guide, the jaw and the raceway part each having a raceway for abutting against the rolling elements to form a roller guide, and in that pretensioning means are provided for generating a pretensioning force, the pretensioning force acting on the raceway part such that the rolling elements are pressed against the jaw-side raceways.

A system for loading a warewasher, which is embodied as a commercial conveyor warewasher. The loading system includes a gripping system having at least one parallel gripper (1), wherein the at least one parallel gripper (1) includes at least two clamping jaws (2, 3), between which a gripping region of the parallel gripper (1) is defined, wherein at least one of the at least two clamping jaws (2, 3) is segmented such that the at least one clamping jaw (2) is preferably automatically and/or self-adjustable at least in regions to a surface contour of a piece of washware to be gripped by the at least one parallel gripper (1).

A gripping assembly for use with an automated sorting or manufacturing assembly is disclosed. The gripping assembly includes two or more fingers and alignment attributes for precisely picking up objects (e.g., objects placed in a random orientation). The gripping assembly includes the intrinsic ability to retrieve and align objects predictably by including fingers machined to specific characteristics, such that when roughly located to pick up the object, the closing of the fingers orients the object precisely allowing further manipulation of the object from a known object orientation. The fingers of the device can be aligned with precision using optional alignment features such as sliding within tabs fixed to one finger or sliding along a stabilizing pin fixed to one finger.

The invention relates to a handling device (1), having a drive carriage (2) that is movable relative to a carrier (3), wherein a scissor lift (7) having a plurality of scissor-lift members (8) is arranged with its first end on the drive carriage (2), wherein a carrier plate (11) that is movable relative to the drive carriage (2) by means of the scissor lift (7) is arranged at the second end of the scissor lift (7), wherein: a gripping tool is arranged on the carrier plate (11), the scissor-lift members (8) are hollow throughout and are sealingly interconnected in order to actuate the gripping tool by means of a gaseous medium.

An assembly apparatus is for assembling a first member and a second member. The assembly apparatus includes a first gripping section, a second gripping section, and a driving section. The first gripping section includes a contact member and an elastic member. The second gripping section includes a contact member and an elastic member. The driving section drives the first and second gripping sections. The driving section drives the first and second gripping sections such that the contact member of the first gripping section and the contact member of the second gripping section make contact with the second member. The first and second gripping sections grip the second member through the two elastic members urging the respective contact members. The driving section drives the first and second gripping sections such that the first member and the second member are assembled.

A tool changing system for an industrial robot, the tool changing system including a tool; a base member for arrangement in a manipulator of the industrial robot and for holding the tool; and a tool storage for holding the tool when released from the base member; and a base member force device configured to force the tool to the base member in any orientation of the base member when the tool is held by the base member; and a tool storage force device configured to force the tool to the tool storage in any orientation of the tool storage when the tool is held by the tool storage. A method of handling a tool by an industrial robot is also provided.

A robot gripper includes: a drive unit to drive a powertrain with active elements, wherein each element has a working region arranged in a body-fixed manner relative to the robot gripper, a respective element being moveable in and capable of reaching the working region; a control unit to control the drive unit; and a sensor system connected to the control unit to ascertain forces/moments applied externally to individual elements, the control unit configured such that collision monitoring is capable of being carried out for the elements, and when a collision is detected for an element, the drive unit is actuated according to a specified operation, including: providing a defined region within the working region for the elements, and collision monitoring for the elements only when the elements are located outside the assigned region, and deactivating collision monitoring when the elements are located at least partly within the assigned region.

A machine for a drilling plant includes a base, an arm, and a tool which is carried by the arm. The tool has a receiver for a protective cap. The machine is operable to engage the protective cap and to remove or to install the protective cap from or on an end of a drilling tubular.