One of the most important stages to ensuring success for your robot deployment is selecting the right end of arm tooling (EOAT) for the job. Here we take a look at the steps needed in scoping out what tooling is required for your specific processes, parts and environment.

What is end of arm tooling?

First, it’s worth discussing some of the terms commonly used when referring to the physical interface between a robot and the item being moved or worked on. Depending on the organisation or sector, terms including end effector, gripper, robotic hand or manipulator are often used interchangeably. For consistency, here at Automata we tend to use “end of arm tooling” as the catch-all term and we’ll take a look at definitions for some of the other commonly used terms below.

Why is end of arm tooling required?

Different jobs require different tools. Even processes that might seem identical at first glance may require very different solutions because of differences in environment or the way parts are presented. Both industrial and collaborative robots are designed to be adopted by a broad range of industries and applications and as such are generally not supplied with specific end of arm tooling. It is therefore up to the organisation implementing the robot (or integrator doing the work on their behalf) to assess the job to be done and select the most appropriate tools for the tasks at hand.

Where to start: understand the problem you’re trying to solve

The variations of end of arm tooling are broad. Options range from off the shelf tools from vendors such as Schunk or Zimmer, custom solutions built by integration specialists such as Active8 Robots or custom-made in-house, taking advantage of an organisation’s internal tooling capabilities and/or widely available equipment such as 3D printing. We share some examples of end of arm tools below.

Before looking at the options available, it’s important to start with understanding the problem you’re trying to solve and what you want to achieve. Start by answering the following questions:

• What is the weight of the items the robot will be moving?
• What are the shapes and sizes of the items to be moved? Are they uniform?
• What kind of surfaces do the items have? Are they hard, soft, porous, dry, oiled?
• Are the items delicate, unstable or need to be handled with care?
• Will you need a binary motion (open and closed only), or flexible gripping strokes?
• Do you have cleanroom, temperature or hygiene related requirements?
• How will the parts be presented to the robot? Will they be uniformly presented?
• What motion or process does the robot need to carry out? (for example: pick and place, button push, hook or scoop, torque or tighten, dispense or weld)
• Do you have a single process or item to be moved, different items at different times, or multiple on the same line or cell?
• Do you need need to exert any force as part of the process (for example: twist, screw, button press, polish)
• What level of accuracy is required?
• Are any additional sensors required?
• Will humans be working alongside the robot?