Gripper firm sells assets, and changes name and strategy
7 August 2024 
Soft Robotics, the US developer of soft gripper, 3D vision and AI technologies, has sold its gripper business to Germany’s Schmalz Group for an undisclosed sum. Soft Robotics has reformed as Oxipital AI, aiming to deliver “transformative” AI technologies to critical industries, enabling a new generation of resilient, efficient, sustainable manufacturing.
The divestiture of the mGrip gripper business will allow Oxipital AI to focus on commercialising its end-to-end visual AI systems for high-speed product inspection and robotic picking.
“For years, our AI vision solutions have enabled the automation of labour-intensive processes in the food industry,” says Oxipital AI president and CEO, Mark Chiappetta. “Although under a new banner, we remain steadfast in our commitment to customers as they embrace Industry 5.0, and in providing the AI technology they need to unlock previously unattainable levels of resiliency, sustainability, and resource efficiency in their manufacturing operations.”
“The Oxipital AI brand name was selected because it aligns more closely with the technology, paying homage to the visual processing centre of the human brain,” adds Austin Harvey, the company’s vice-president of product and marketing. “Our vision solutions unlock latent process inefficiencies through deep object understanding and provide a previously unavailable pathway to further increase manufacturing yield, throughput, and margins, while reducing product waste and ecological footprint.”
In 2020, Soft Robotics raised $23m and formed a strategic venture with Fanuc to integrate its mGrip grippers with Fanuc’s robots. The company’s backers included Honeywell and Yamaha.
The new owner of the mGrip technology is the family-owned vacuum specialist Schmalz, which is planning to expand its activities in the food-handling sector. As well as the gripper products, Schmalz has acquired associated patents and know-how.
“The food industry is a growth market,” says Schmalz Group managing partner, Dr Kurt Schmalz. “We now offer our customers finger grippers for the automated handling of food products, in addition to an extensive portfolio of vacuum grippers.”
The modular, flexible mGrip grippers can be adapted quickly to suit customer needs. They can handle delicate objects that are difficult to grip due to their changing shapes. The hygienic design is suitable for food industry applications such as handling baked goods, fruit, vegetables, meat and fish.
Schmalz employs around 1,800 people at 31 locations worldwide. It will continue to operate the mGrip business at its existing location in Boston, US, giving it quick access to the market and uninterrupted delivery.
