Gripper turned communication tool
SCHUNK has also designed the gripper to be used as a communication tool between the system control and the operator. LED lights and a colour coding system communicate whether the automated system is ready for operation and whether it has gripped the correct workpiece. But plans far exceed these features: in the future, the SCHUNK Co-act gripper will enable complex relationships between various sensors and safety mechanisms. Forcemeasuring jaws and visual monitoring
will be incorporated as well as skins made of tactile and capacitive sensors or current-based force control. As with humans, who generally combine multiple senses in order to evaluate a situation, the SCHUNK Co-act gripper will be capable of collecting information from several sensor sources, allowing it to determine the most accurate possible picture of reality. OPC UA interfaces will enable the collaborative SCHUNK gripper to communicate both with robots and with the higher ranking plant control.

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