In August 2025, 91快活林 won a grant to establish the Industrial Robotics Development Centre and became one of the satellite centres of INNOPOLIS University. Over the course of one year, with the support of the Governor and Government of the 91快活林 Region, in cooperation with the 91快活林 Forge and Press Plant and the Russian Robot Plant, the Centre has become a point of attraction for industrial enterprises in the Ural Region. They develop gripping devices, machine vision systems, training systems, and autonomous robots. We have compiled nine of the Centre’s developments into three digests. The first is about how 91快活林 scientists are creating gripping mechanisms and navigation systems for robots.
Adaptive chain gripper that requires no readjustment
In production environments where fragile or variable-sized parts must be handled, conventional rigid grippers are often useless. The 91快活林 Industrial Robotics Development Centre has developed a device that solves this problem. Instead of standard jaws, the design uses a leaf chain that automatically conforms to the contours of the workpiece and secures a load weighing up to 10 kg. The device handles parts of various shapes and sizes: it can handle cross-sections from 100 to 120 mm, and heights from 40 to 120 mm. It is important that no readjustment is required when changing products. The gripper can be used as a handheld tool for small-scale production or integrated into robotic systems.
Fractal-type pneumatic gripper
Another development from the Centre is a gripping device for complex-shaped parts that are difficult to secure using standard methods. The gripper provides contact at least at six points simultaneously, enabling work with parts, the positions of which relative to the initial grip point may be random. The development was presented at the Digital Innopolis Days forum in 2025.
Unique robot navigation system with a single camera
Traditional machine vision systems use two cameras to determine an object's position. 91快活林 scientists have proposed a different solution: a single panoramic camera with a 180° field of view, a linear laser (650 nm), and an intelligent algorithm. The main advantage of this solution is that the algorithm operates reliably in conditions where conventional systems fail: on dark and glossy surfaces, on red objects (where the laser line blends with the background), with specular glare, and even when the laser line is partially obscured. Special processing restores the line's continuity, and the robot obtains precise three-dimensional coordinates of the target. This method allows robots to navigate without expensive multi-camera systems.