Subscription-based robots for hire company, Rapid Robotics is helping small to mid-sized manufacturers compete and tackle labour shortages by providing customised robots, suitable to their needs. With the help of 3D printing, the company aims to ‘automate any manufacturing task in a matter of weeks.’

Rapid Robotics has worked with Markforged from the beginning to help create custom end of arm tooling – one of the most complex parts of programming the custom robots. Using Markforged’s continuous carbon fibre technology not only saves Rapid Robotics costs and long lead times waiting for off-the-shelf grippers, but the printed parts are lighter, stronger and can be designed for complex geometries. This gives them flexibility to create tooling for robots to work across a huge range of industries – from automotive to pharmaceutical.

The strength of the Onyx material can take sheer force and impact, making the grippers robust enough to withstand the daily rigours of manufacturing floors.  “We’ve never had a gripper break in the field,” said Jordan Kretchmer, CEO and Co-Founder of Rapid Robotics.

You can hear more from Jordan and his colleague Taylor Parker, one of Rapid Robotics mechanical engineers and their work with Markforged in the new video here .