• When fulfillment centers must pick a constantly changing mix of SKUs from conveyors and bins, automated systems often require repeated programming, application-specific integration, and expensive 3D camera setups to maintain reliability, according to Festo. • The company today announced its GripperAI software to enable robots to pick a range of items without custom programming. • A shifting product mix can increase integration cost, slow deployment, and limit the ability to scale roboticpickingas order volumes and product variation grow, Festo noted. • GripperAI operates locally at the cell on a standard industrial PC with a connected 3D camera and automatically adjusts for mixed products without programming or template loading between SKUs, said the Islandia, N.Y.-basedcompany. • GripperAI keeps picking with affordable cameras Deploying GripperAI involves standard integration steps, said Festo. • They include mounting and aligning the camera, verifying usable lighting, calibrating the robot base to the camera’s frame, and configuring the software’s pick parameters.

Article Summaries:

  • Festo announced GripperAI, a robot‑agnostic software that lets industrial robots pick a wide range of SKUs from conveyors and bins without custom programming. The system runs locally on a standard industrial PC with a 3D camera, automatically calculating gripping points, selecting the appropriate tool, and retrying missed grasps. It supports cost‑effective vision hardware and integrates with most industrial robots, cobots, and Cartesian systems that have path‑control capability. By eliminating template loading between SKUs, GripperAI reduces integration time, lowers deployment costs, and enables scalable picking as order volumes and product variety grow. The solution is already deployed at Würth Group’s German distribution hub to handle diverse parts and packages.

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