3D Printed Grippers at Automate 2026

Additive manufacturing (AM) solutions played an important role at Automate 2026 in Chicago, Illinois, demonstrating the ways that 3D printing can be complementary to tooling and automation.

One key market where AM is enhancing the efficiency of automated operations is in the food and beverage sector, particularly in bottle gripping and handling — here are two examples:

1. Lightweight Gatorade Bottle Gripper

This bottle gripper’s lightweight constitution was made possible through AM, which reduces material waste by only deploying material layer-by-layer where structurally necessary.
Source: Additive Manufacturing Media (all images)

Industrial automation solutions and vacuum-driven handling systems provider Piab Group has leveraged AM to improve the efficiency of automated operations, like with this 3D printed gripper designed to handle Gatorade bottles.

Utilizing its HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) system, Piab 3D printed every component of this bottle gripper — including its vacuum chambers. It is specifically designed to be lightweight, consisting mostly of TPU with a nylon body.

The bottle gripper is equipped with eight 3D printed suction cups for the gripping of Gatorade bottles in automated lines.

Brian Vandergaff, project engineer manager at Piab Group, says the company has benefited from the lightweighting aspect of 3D printing, as well as the expanded design and production freedoms that AM can provide.

“3D printing is beneficial, because if you can dream it, you can do it,” says Vandergaff.

2. 3D Printed Precision Bottle Handling Grippers

These single- (right) and multi-actuated (left) precision bottle handling grippers were 3D printed via SLS, without molds.

AM systems supplier EOS co-exhibited at the show with client Anubis 3D, a custom end-of-arm tooling specialist that utilizes EOS SLS systems in-house. On display were dual configurations of Anubis 3D’s external bottle gripper (EBG), an end-of-arm tooling solution designed for reliable external gripping, high-speed bottle handling and precise bottle movement throughout automated pick-and-place cycles.

The single- and multi-actuated precision bottle handling grippers were 3D printed from PA2200 using an EOS P110 SLS polymer system. They were built in just six hours and postprocessed via tumbling and drying. SLS enabled production without molds and enhanced design freedom.

These dual configurations of the EBG are necessary for adapting to different automated line setups and bottle handling requirements in the beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and chemical production industries.