Blog #PickAndPlace

Rochu Soft Gripper provides a flexible PCB handling solution for circular circuit boards. By gripping from the edge instead of contacting the surface, it avoids damage to solder joints and components, while the modular design enables quick adaptation to different PCB models and automation requirements.

Small parts can bring big challenges to automation. When handling olive oil caps, traditional rigid grippers may struggle with unstable gripping, excessive clamping force, and part deformation. The soft gripper matrix provides adaptive and gentle contact, enabling stable multi-cap picking while reducing the risk of damage. A flexible solution for food packaging automation and small component handling.

This case involves automated gripping of oil seals (Φ43 / Φ44) with a requirement of ≥30 pcs per cycle. Traditional pneumatic and rigid gripping methods caused part dropping due to demolding vacuum forces and left visible marks on the rubber surface. A soft gripper solution was introduced to provide distributed, compliant contact force. It improves stability during high-temperature demolding, prevents surface damage, reduces dropping, and supports high-speed batch handling with dual-size compatibility.

This article introduces an automated avocado handling solution based on soft gripper technology. It explains the key challenges in avocado picking—such as irregular shape, varying ripeness, and high sensitivity to pressure—and shows how soft grippers improve stability, reduce damage, and increase adaptability in high-speed fruit sorting and packaging lines.