Tesollo and Techman Robot just demonstrated what high-mix, low-volume manufacturing automation actually looks like — and it starts with a three-finger gripper that can handle parts your current robots can’t even pick up.
At Automation World (AW) 2026 in Seoul, the two companies unveiled an integrated cobot workcell combining Tesollo’s DG-3F-M articulated gripper with Techman’s TM5S collaborative robot arm. The system is specifically designed for the manufacturing frontier that traditional automation has struggled with: production lines where parts change constantly, volumes are small, and rigid programming just doesn’t cut it.
The Problem: High-Mix, Low-Volume Is Automation’s Hardest Challenge
Most industrial automation is built for high-volume, repetitive tasks. Same part, same motion, thousands of times a day. But a growing segment of manufacturing — aerospace, electronics assembly, medical devices, custom manufacturing — operates in the opposite mode: many different parts, small batches, frequent changeovers.
Conventional automation faces structural constraints here. Every new part requires new jigs, new programming, and often new end-of-arm tooling. The setup time and cost for each changeover can exceed the value of the production run itself.
“When the industrial reliability of collaborative robots is combined with adaptive grasping technology, it becomes possible to extend processes that are difficult to address with conventional automation,” said Techman Robot. “This will be an alternative that can secure both flexibility and scalability in the manufacturing and logistics industries.”
The Solution: TM5S Cobot + DG-3F-M Gripper
At the center of the Tesollo-Techman exhibit was an automated workcell integrating two key components:
Techman TM5S Collaborative Robot
The TM5S is Techman’s proven cobot platform with built-in vision capabilities. Key features include high-precision repeatability, an intuitive teaching environment, and built-in vision-based position correction — meaning the robot can visually locate parts rather than relying on them being in an exact position every time.
Tesollo DG-3F-M Three-Finger Gripper
This is where the real innovation sits. Unlike standard parallel grippers that simply open and close in a linear motion, the DG-3F-M uses three articulated, multi-jointed fingers that actively adapt to each object’s shape. The gripper increases contact area for stable grasping across fundamentally different part geometries.
Payload specs:
- Pinching mode: 2.5 kg rated (5 kg maximum)
- Enveloping mode: 10 kg rated (15 kg maximum)
- Camera mounting: Can be integrated underneath the gripper on the TM arm
- Tactile sensors: Fingertips can be equipped with tactile feedback
“A camera can be mounted underneath the Delto gripper on the TM arm, and we have a maximum payload of 20 kg,” said Jaesuk Choi, strategic planning team manager at Tesollo. “The fingertips can be equipped with tactile sensors.”
What the System Can Actually Do
The demonstrated applications at AW 2026 included bin picking and assembly tasks — two of the most challenging operations in high-mix manufacturing:
- Bin picking: Grasping randomly oriented parts from bins — a task that has stumped simple grippers because every pick is slightly different
- Assembly: Handling components of varying sizes and shapes during assembly sequences
- Mixed parts handling: Non-uniform components with inconsistent poses and diverse geometries
The three-finger articulated design means the gripper can wrap around irregular shapes rather than just pinching from two sides. This dramatically expands the range of parts a single gripper can handle — reducing the need for custom tooling that typically makes high-mix automation cost-prohibitive.
Scalable Beyond a Single Cell
The DG-3F-M gripper isn’t limited to the TM5S. Tesollo confirmed it integrates with Techman’s broader lineup including the TM12, TM14, and TM16 — expanding the payload and reach envelope based on application requirements.
“This indicates a platform structure that can be flexibly expanded beyond a single cell configuration according to process scale and load requirements,” said Tesollo.
The customer list adds credibility: Tesollo’s Korean customers include Samsung, LG Electronics, and Hyundai, and the company reports strong demand from U.S. customers as well.
Broader Context: The Cobot Gripper Race
Tesollo and Techman weren’t the only companies showing adaptive manipulation at AW 2026. Bigwave Robotics and WeGo Robotics (with OnRobot at Universal Robots’ booth) also demonstrated bi-manual teleoperation systems. The trend is clear: the next battleground in collaborative robotics isn’t the robot arm itself — it’s the end effector.
Tesollo also recently commercialized its DG-5F-S five-fingered gripper aimed at humanoid robot applications, suggesting the company is positioning itself across both traditional cobot and emerging humanoid markets.
Why This Matters
High-mix, low-volume manufacturing represents a massive untapped market for robotics. According to industry estimates, small-batch and custom production accounts for a growing share of manufacturing output, yet automation penetration in these environments remains low — precisely because the technology hasn’t been flexible enough.
The Tesollo-Techman partnership addresses this gap with a practical, deployable system rather than a research prototype. A cobot with built-in vision plus an adaptive gripper that handles diverse geometries — that’s a solution manufacturers can evaluate and deploy today.
The Bottom Line
The Tesollo DG-3F-M and Techman TM5S combination is a practical answer to manufacturing’s hardest automation challenge. It won’t replace high-volume production lines — those are already well-served. But for the growing world of high-mix, low-volume production, where flexibility matters more than raw speed, this cobot-gripper combination offers a real path to automation that doesn’t require rebuilding the line every time the product changes.
Source: The Robot Report
