Robotic Gripper End-of-Arm Tooling

The Challenge

A logistics automation company in Rotterdam was scaling up their warehouse operations with a fleet of pick-and-place robots. Each robot needed custom end-of-arm grippers tailored to different product shapes. Their existing CNC-machined aluminium grippers were expensive, heavy, and had a 6-week lead time for each new design.

Our Approach

We redesigned the grippers for additive manufacturing using SLS Nylon PA12, which offers excellent mechanical strength and wear resistance. The lattice-optimized design cut weight by 60% while maintaining grip force. We printed an initial test batch of 5 grippers in 3 days for on-site validation.

The Result

After successful testing, we produced a batch of 30 grippers delivered in one week — down from 6 weeks with traditional machining. The lighter grippers also improved robot cycle times by 12%. The client now orders new gripper designs on a rolling basis as they onboard new product lines.