Today, robotics are playing a very important role in industry. They are being used extensively in all phases of production and fabrication and their use is greatly increasing productivity and efficiency in American industry.
Typically, a robotic system will be found at a particular work station and will include a robotic head or hand secured to a robotic arm with the entire robotic system being selectively programmed. In use, the arm will move the robotic hand such that an element or object of a particular size and shape is retrieved by the hand and transferred to a setting point such as a particular location on a printed circuit board for example. Essentially, work pieces are conveyed to this work station and the robotic hand functions to transfer the same element, time after time, from a pickup point to a setting point where fabrication and assemblage takes place.
Generally, at such a work station, the single robotic hand only functions to transfer one particular element to the particular work piece. Therefore, for each element or part transferred to the work piece, one will find a separate work station and a separate robotic hand. This obviously is expensive in a situation where there are a great number of different types or sizes of elements or parts to be transferred. It is expensive because with this basic approach a different robotic system is required for each element.
In addition, many robotic systems include a robotic hand that includes a pair of fingers that are actuated in a scissor-like fashion. While this has been generally satisfactory, it is believed that greater efficiency and productivity can be gained with a robotic hand wherein the respective fingers of the hand would be actuated back and forth between opened and closed positions in such a manner that the fingers would always move in parallel relationship with each other.