Effectiveness on Different Materials
The Gecko Gripper is best suited for smooth, low surface roughness substrates that are generally flat, stiff,
and rigid. For other materials, the Gecko Gripper’s effectiveness drops depending the stiffness and
roughness of the picking surface. The table below shows a relationship between rigid and flexible
substrates, surface finish, payload and the required preload to pick up said substrate. For example, if the
customer knows that their part/substrate is rigid, with a mirror-like finish and weighs 2kg, the preload
required to pick up the part/substrate is a medium-level preload.
To further elaborate the significance between preload and payload, the table below shows visual matrix
that displays the capability of the gecko gripper to pick up different materials with varying stiffness and
roughness, at three different preload values (low 40N, medium 90N, high 140N).