Additively Manufactured Robot Gripper Blades for Automated Cell Production Processes

Abstract

The automation of cell production processes demands strict requirements with regard to sterility, reliability, and flexibility. Robots work in such environments as transporting devices for a huge variety of disposables, e.g., cell plates, tubes, cassettes, and other objects. Therefore, the blades of their grippers must be designed to hold all of these different materials in a stable, gentle manner, and in defined positions, which means that the blades require complex geometries. Furthermore, they should have as few edges as possible, so as to be easy to clean. In this report, we demonstrate how these requirements can be met by producing stainless steel robot grippers by additive manufacturing.

Topology Optimization of a Robot Gripper with nTopology

“…The wear, corrosion, and oxidation properties determine 316L-SS as a good material for gripper clamps, as it grants stability and durability to be employed in a reliable periods while being able to be used in corrosion applications. The biocompatibility allows 316L-SS to be selected for grippers in biotechnical fields, as it can also withstand most chemical sterilizing and cleaning agents (Biermann et al 2022;Kazemipour et al 2019;Hosseini et al 2022). The typical chemical composition of the powders of 316L-SS manufactured through laser powder bed fusion is presented in Table 1.…”