We continue our presentation of the major innovations honoured at EPHJ 2023 with Percipio Robotics, a spin-off from the FEMTO-ST research institute, which has designed the Tulip gripper. This compact, lightweight gripper, weighing less than 30g, is designed for micromanipulation and can grip objects from 50µm to 10mm.

It solves the problems of large grippers and fragility frequently encountered in micro-robotics.

The Tulip clamp has a long stroke and high clamping force, guaranteeing reliable, controlled gripping. It is adaptable and modular thanks to its Tool Attachment Systems (TAS), allowing the TAS to be changed as required. The low-cost, customised OTs make it easy to adapt the gripper to different types of object.

As Yann Buaillon told our friends at Machines Production TV, “there are many applications for a gripper like this, because it can become an everyday tool for picking up parts and placing them on a substrate, to create an assembly that can then be made reliable by welding or gluing”.

Because of its robustness, the Tulip gripper can also be used for high-speed solutions, such as feeding machines. “We already have one such application in production, where we feed a watchmaking machine with a part every second,” says Yann Buaillon.

The Tulip pliers have been used successfully in a variety of applications, such as handling microchips and precious stones. It promises to be a valuable tool for handling and assembling objects in fields such as watchmaking, microelectronics, biomedical and optics.