Bridgestone launches proof of concept for piece-picking robot hand

TOKYO—Bridgestone Corp. has launched a proof of concept (PoC) project for using soft robot hands to automatically perform piece-picking at its logistics site.

The project will involve robots picking and transporting individual items in a trial run, toward commercializing the group's soft robotics business, Bridgestone said in a Nov. 28 news release.

The initial goal is to achieve "small-scale commercialization" of soft robotics via work with various partners under the group's next mid-term business plan, covering 2024-26.

Positioned within Bridgestone's diversified products segment, the soft robotics business aims to harness "the power of rubber" to deliver "safe mobility and movement of people and objects."

The unit combines Bridgestone's expertise in rubber, road contact and hose development to develop rubber actuators for robotic arms, Bridgestone said.

Rubber actuators, it added, will address issues such as labor shortages and demand for non-contact interactions through automation of tasks that currently require human hands.

In July, Bridgestone said it implemented a PoC project in which it provided rubber actuators for use in automated piece-picking processes within logistics warehouses.

Automatic piece-picking is a "demanding problem," the company said, as it is difficult for a single conventional robot to pick up objects with various shapes, levels of rigidity and weights, such as tubes, bottles and pouches.

A single soft robot hand-equipped with Bridgestone's rubber actuators, however, can achieve "just the right" grip of various objects, the company said.