Hi all. I was wondring if the SES arm gripper could easily be modified to have an opening of atleast 2.6 inches (for a coca cola can).
If so, how would I go about getting this modification started?
The Little Gripper has 3mm tapped threads in the fingers specifically for this purpose. You can see them if you remove the gray pads. I have been wanting to illustrate how easy it would be to add extensions to the fingers, but haven’t been able to get it done yet. Basically all you would need to do is cut a couple pieces of aluminum, say .75" x 3" x .06" thick. Drill two holes in the ends to allow attaching them to the fingers, then bend them to the contour of a coke can. Some adhesive backed weather stripping would add the needed “grippyness” to hold the can. 8)
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because we all know that condensation can make the surface of the beer can slippery and you don’t want to drop it on the way from the fridge.
uh I mean coke can, of course. 
Do you al think that the arm would interfere with a design involving an inductive sensor for detecting aluminum cans???
We need to differentiate between 3 items:
- Coca Cola Cans
- Coca Cola Plastic Bottles
- Coca Cola Glass Bottles
The heaviest item is 6 ounces (glass), does the
SES arm sound like a good choicefor our specifications?
You may want to detail what you intend to have the arm do. You mention a potential weight issue and also a potential inductive field issue. As for the field, you could place a servo that is under load near the inductive sensor and see if there is significant inteference. The weight carrying capability of the arm usually depends on the distance the supported weight is from the base centerline and the time spent at the distance. You may also need to look at how you will determine that the object has been gripped by the gripper.
To collect and store three different classes of coca cola containters (cans, glass, or plastic).
We need the gripper to be able to pick up these up from any orientation, and then store it in either one of te two side bags, or the rear bag (each bag will be for a seperate class of item)
The inductive sensor is for the purpose of can detection.
The weight is well within the capabilities of the arm. The inductive sensor is essentially a metal detector. The aluminum fingers should not interfere with it after it’s been tuned. Then the introduction of more metal should still change the property of the electromagnetic field the can influences. Detecting the object can be accomplished with a pressure sensor like the ones we sell.
Being that we will be picking up three different classes of items, it seems that we would need a more general purpose extended arm design, that would not need any bending per say. Any ideas on how we would implement such a design? Would we still go about it the same way?
For a reality check on the project, place your cans the way they will be found, get a pair of kitchen tongs that can be used to pick up the cans, and then put on a blind fold. Then start performing the task that you expect the arm to perform, picking up the cans with the tongs. This should give you an idea of some of the issues that will need to be addressed. Bare in mind that these arms are primarily made for hobby and educational use and may not be appropriate for serious commercial applications.
Thanks man, you are being extremely helpful to me. I am trying to make sure that it is a wise choice to purchase this arm, being that we will need to pick up more than just cans, but glass bottles and plastic bottles as well…
It’s a competition. 
Hey! We are doing the same thing in our school. Could I get a picture of how you modified your gripper?
We are using a capacitive sensor because it uses the dielectric constants of material to distinguish the differences between them.
Good Luck and thanks!
Here is a way to modify the gripper for larger objects. These are some samples I had made. I will be changing it to mount onto the outside of the gripper fingers. The mod is not difficult to do…
