OnRobot has launched the MG10 magnetic gripper for material handling, assembly and machine tending applications in manufacturing, automotive and aerospace environments. Fully compatible with all major robot brands through OnRobot’s One System Solution, the MG10 offers adjustable force and grip detection features that provide users with advanced levels of control.
Standard magnetic grippers only provide simple ON/OFF functionality. To adjust the force applied, users have to add rubber ‘feet’ to create space between the magnet and the part. This is a tedious and imprecise process that doesn’t always guarantee perfect results, especially on applications that involve handling thin metal sheets and small metal parts where magnetic grippers often accidentally end up picking more than one sheet or part as the force cannot be adjusted.
“Standard magnetic grippers are a real hassle because almost every time your application or workpiece changes, you have to make manual adjustments to compensate for the gripper’s lack of functionality,” says Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of OnRobot. “OnRobot’s innovative MG10 gripper eliminates all that thanks to its adjustable force features that enable you to deploy precise material handling applications quickly and easily.”
New features eliminate dropped parts
Unlike standard magnetic grippers, the innovative MG10 comes with built-in grip and sensors for part detection. For applications that involve handling sheet metal –such as machine tending tasks that require robots to lift sheet metal from a stack, place it into a press brake/press bending machine, and remove it when the machine has completed its work– this functionality ensures smooth, consistent and safe operation. And if the robot loses power or has to make an e-stop while performing a task, these features ensure that there is no risk of dropping the part being handled.
The new MG10 gripper is ready to take over machine tending, assembly and material handling tasks that were once performed by costly and complex pneumatic grippers. “While pneumatic systems require an external air supply, cabling and ongoing maintenance, the MG10 is ready to go out of the box, resulting in massively reduced deployment costs compared to its pneumatic counterparts,” says Iversen.
Handles uneven, abrasive or perforated surfaces
The MG10 also provides precise and durable handling of objects with abrasive, uneven or perforated surfaces, making it a perfect fit for a wide variety of applications in the manufacturing, automotive and aerospace sectors. On top of that, the MG10’s multi-magnet setup ensures that this gripper can handle a wide range of sizes, weights and parts with odd-shaped geometries.
There are many applications, such as multi-stage bending press tasks and handling parts with many holes, where vacuum and finger-type grippers simply don’t have the intelligence and power to succeed. The MG10 can handle such tasks with ease, whether the workpiece is a metal blank, a punched steel part, or a perforated steel sheet.
“As the manufacturing sector moves towards low volume/high mix production, the ability to move quickly from one application setup to another quickly is more than a ‘nice to have.’ It’s essential,” says CEO Iversen. “The MG10 is the only magnetic gripper on the market that’s sufficiently versatile, intelligent and so easy to use that it can be quickly redeployed on tasks from machine tending and palletizing to de-stacking of metal sheets –and all in one no fuss, no nonsense, plug and play package.”
