Regrasping on Printed Circuit Boards with the Smart Suction Cup

The disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) presents a sustainability challenge, particularly for waste printed circuit boards (PCBs). PCBs are challenging to sort out from other waste materials in part because traditional industrial end-effectors struggle to reliably grip these irregularly shaped objects with unmodeled surface-mounted components. Vision-based separators, while effective for object categorization, face challenges with identifying precise grasp points on PCB surfaces. This paper studies regrasping control to enhance suction cup grasping performance on PCBs, addressing issues arising from uneven surfaces and intricate features that interfere with suction sealing. We categorize PCBs into two recycling levels – with large surface features intact or removed – and conduct experiments on both stationary and conveyor belt setups with realistic vision-based grasp planners. Results show that jumping regrasping improves pick-and-place success rate. Haptically driven jumping – using the Smart Suction Cup – is especially useful for unprocessed waste PCBs with large surface mount parts. The proposed method offers a promising solution to enhance the efficiency and reliability of robotic grasping in recycling applications.