Parallel gripper with adaptive clamping surfaces

An arrangement of a gripper finger and a clamp for use in an automated parallel gripper comprising first and second gripper fingers that are moveable towards each other and away from each other in a direction of translation, whereby the clamp is connected to the gripper finger at an underside thereof, so as to be rotational about a vertical axis of rotation, whereby the clamp has a front face with a contact surface for engagement with a lateral edge of an item to be gripped and whereby the clamp has a default orientation in which the front face is parallel to a lateral direction that is perpendicular to the direction of translation and to the vertical rotation axis, wherein the arrangement is additionally provided with a self-alignment feature which urges the clamp to adopt the default orientation in unloaded condition of the clamp, and which comprises first and second biasing mechanisms, arranged at either side of the rotation axis in lateral direction, whereby:

• each biasing mechanism has a first part connected to the finger and a second part connected to the clamp and is configured to exert a centering force that urges the first and second parts of each biasing mechanism into alignment with each other;
• and
• when the clamp is in the default orientation, each biasing mechanism is preloaded to exert an equal moment load on the clamp in the direction of translation.