Design of robot grippers and fixtures for robotic manufacturing

A method for determining a shape Gm(x,y) of a support surface of a robot-gripper (111) or fixture (131) used for supporting an object picked up by a robot during robotic manufacturing, the method comprises

• determining an initial shape G(x,y) of the support surface for the robot-gripper or the fixture based on an outer shape of the object, where the initial shape is a function of locations (x,y) on a reference surface,
• providing a shaping function F(q) being a function of at least a parameter q determined relative to a selected location (xs,ys) selected among the locations (x,y),
• applying the shaping function F(q) to a plurality of the selected locations (xs,ys),
• at a plurality of neighbour locations (xi,yj) to the selected locations (xs,ys), determine modified shape points Gm(xi, yj) based on the applied shaping function F(q) and the initial shape G(xi, yj),
• if a modified shape point Gm(xi, yj) provides an extension of the initial shape G(xi,yj) at the neighbour location (xi, yj), use the modified shape point Gm(xi, yj) as a shape point in the shape Gm(x,y) of the support surface.