Traction Gripper

»Traction Gripper« is the official name of a piece goods gripper developed by Fraunhofer IML. It consists of two compact belt conveying units, which are arranged perpendicular to each other. Each unit has multiple parallel arranged traction belts.

For the prototype, each side was assigned to a separate drive chain. The inward conveying motion of the traction belts causes friction between the active surfaces. The object is pulled into the right angle and held there.

Test runs exposed that the Traction Gripper can handle a wide range of goods of almost any shape and surface, even spherical and cylindrical packages or sacks.

»Flexibility and a smart instead of a complex solution«, that´s what a market-driven development especially in the field of automated material flow systems means for Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics.