Design and fabrication of a novel quick-change system

In robotics, the quick-change system is a device that when attached to the wrist of a robot, increases its ability to automatically change the grippers/end-effectors when necessary. As a result, this will increase the robot's flexibility in handling various shaped objects and tools. This paper presents an overview of the design features and the fabrication results of a novel quick-change system for robotics applications. Upon fabrication, the AMRC quick-change system was tested satisfactorily with a series of different robotic grippers; namely the magnetic, vacuum, inflatable and finger-like grippers. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.