Choosing a vacuum gripper for robotic palletizing looks simple until the first dropped case. The right choice depends on your product surface, case weight, pattern complexity, and how often the line changes over. This guide walks through the questions we ask every customer before recommending a tool.
Quick answer: For sealed, smooth cases, choose a vacuum gripper with suction cups sized 40 to 80 mm. For printed, warped, or porous corrugate, choose foam sealing in 10 or 20 mm. Heavy or full layer picks favor a full surface gripper, while mixed light products favor a configurable multi-point tool, and two-zone vacuum control lets one gripper cover mixed case sizes.
Start with the Product Surface
Sealed, smooth cases are easy: suction cups in 40 mm, 60 mm, or 80 mm diameters grip them precisely at high speed. Corrugate with print, tape seams, or slight warping needs a more forgiving interface, which is where foam sealing in 10 mm or 20 mm thickness earns its place. The foam compresses over surface imperfections and keeps full contact where individual cups would leak at the edges.
If your line runs both kinds of surface, our Area Surface Gripper (ASG) accepts both sealing options on the same body, so a changeover swaps the interface rather than the tool. We cover the decision in depth in our foam vs suction cups guide.
Match the Gripper Format to the Load
Full layer picking or heavy cases above 5 kg with offset centers of gravity call for a full surface gripper with a large sealing area, which spreads the load across the whole case top and shrugs off a center of gravity that sits away from the pick point. Lighter, smaller, or mixed products are often better served by a multi-point tool like the Spider Gripper (SPI), which places four to eight suction cups exactly where the product needs them while keeping tool weight low. Its balanced arm geometry distributes load evenly across every suction point, which matters when the robot corners hard between pick and place.
Zoning Decides Your Flexibility
Two-zone vacuum control lets one gripper pick a single large case or two smaller ones in the same cycle, and lets you run only the zone you need to cut air consumption. If your palletizing patterns mix case sizes, zoning is the difference between one tool and two. Both the ASG and the SPI ship with two independently controllable vacuum zones, and the zone layout is configured to your pattern during design.
Do Not Ignore Tool Weight
Palletizing robots spend their lives accelerating a tool plus a case. A 3D printed nylon gripper up to 30 percent lighter than aluminum either extends your robot’s effective payload or lets you move to a smaller, cheaper robot class. On cobot palletizers this is often the deciding factor, and we run the numbers in our post on freeing up robot payload with lighter tooling. The comparison against machined tooling more broadly is covered in our nylon vs aluminum breakdown.
Plan for the Drops Before They Happen
Uncovered inlets are the silent killer of palletizing grippers. When a case is smaller than the gripping surface, every inlet not covered by product bleeds vacuum for the whole array. Flow restrictor fittings solve this at the inlet level: non-return check valves seal automatically when a cup runs uncovered, and calibrated orifices from 1.0 mm to 1.5 mm limit how much any single inlet can leak. If your current tool already drops product, our troubleshooting guide walks the diagnostic sequence.
Think One Cell, Not One Task
Palletizing rarely lives alone. The same robot often needs to erect cartons, pack them, and stack them, which is where tool changing enters the spec. Every gripper we ship is tool-change ready, and with an Integrated Vacuum Tool Changer (IVTC) the robot swaps tools mid-program without an operator. Our tool changer guide explains when manual changing is enough and when integrated pays for itself. For the wider context of end-of-line automation, see our packaging automation page.
Checklist Before You Buy
Confirm the heaviest case weight including contents, the surface condition of your worst case, the number of case formats in the pattern, required cycle time, and available compressed air. With those five answers, a supplier can configure cup layout, sealing, zoning, and flow control correctly the first time. Our online catalogue lets you compare configurations side by side, and our case studies show what configured tooling looks like in production.
Full Layer vs Case-by-Case Palletizing
The two dominant palletizing strategies demand different tools, and mixing them up is an expensive mistake. Case-by-case picking values agility: a compact gripper matched to the single heaviest case, light enough to keep cycle times short across hundreds of picks per hour. Full layer picking values area: the gripper must seal across an entire layer of cases at once, hold the pattern stable through transfer, and release cleanly onto the stack. Layer tools are larger and heavier by nature, which pushes robot sizing and makes every saved kilogram of tool weight count double. If your operation runs both strategies on different lines, resist the urge to compromise on one tool for both; the configured cost of two right tools is lower than the operating cost of one wrong one.
Air Consumption Is an Operating Cost
Compressed air is among the most expensive utilities in a plant, and palletizing grippers run all shift. Zoning cuts consumption directly, since a single active zone on a small case uses roughly half the air of the full surface. Inlet flow restrictors do the same job at cup level by stopping uncovered inlets from bleeding the system. Specify both and the gripper draws only the air the pick actually needs, which shows up on the utility bill within a quarter.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best vacuum gripper for palletizing cardboard cases?
For sealed cases, a suction cup gripper with 40 to 80 mm cups picks precisely at speed. For printed or slightly warped corrugate, a foam sealing surface gripper such as the Area Surface Gripper holds vacuum where cups would leak.
Can one vacuum gripper handle multiple case sizes?
Yes, if it is specified for it. Two-zone vacuum control lets the gripper activate only the area the case covers, and inlet flow restrictors stop uncovered inlets from draining vacuum, so one tool can span a mixed case pattern.
How heavy should a palletizing gripper be?
As light as the load allows. SLS printed nylon grippers run up to 30 percent lighter than aluminum equivalents, which either extends usable robot payload or allows a smaller, cheaper robot class for the same cases.
Do I need foam or suction cups for palletizing?
Use suction cups on smooth, sealed case tops for speed and clean release. Use foam sealing on porous, printed, or uneven corrugate. Both interfaces are interchangeable on the same Anubis gripper body.
Get the Right Tool for Your Line
Every Anubis Robotic Tooling product is engineered around your product, your robot, and your cycle time. Tell us about your application and our engineering team will come back with the right tooling and a clear quote. Request a Quote, browse the full range in our online catalogue, or contact our Eindhoven team directly.
