A New Way of Grasping: PARAGRIP—The Fusion of Gripper and Robot

In this chapter a novel flexible and versatile handling concept, called PARAGRIP (Parallel Gripping), will be presented. This concept is based on a reconfigurable architecture with a modular and alterable layout. The robot system is able to handle objects with six degrees of freedom (DOF) by forming a parallel kinematic structure including several robotic arms and integrating the object as a movable platform. As many kinematic parameters, like the grasp and base points of the arms as well as the arm combination can be chosen freely, the handling system offers a fast and easy possibility to adapt the system to the requirements of the task. This adaptation can proceed before or even during manipulation. The latter is realized by regrasping, if more than three arms are available in the layout. This chapter deals with the questions, which reconfiguration possibilities are offered by this handling system and how a configuration set can be planned automatically.