End effector

What it means

An end effector is the tool or accessory attached to the working end of a robot manipulator to perform a task. OSHA's technical manual gives examples including grippers, welding tools, dispensers and inspection cameras. The term is therefore broader than robotic hand, and the arm and its end effector are distinct components of a robot system. [1]

End-of-arm tooling, or EOAT, is common industrial terminology for this equipment. An end effector can grasp an object, apply a process or provide a task-specific sensing function. What matters is the attachment's role in the operation, rather than whether it resembles human fingers. [1]

How it applies to humanoids

Humanoid arms can use simple grippers as well as multi-finger hands. Pollen documents Reachy 2's parallel grippers with interchangeable tips and adjustable force limitation. That configuration provides a concrete manipulation interface without establishing that the robot uses an anthropomorphic hand. [2]

PAL Robotics describes TALOS's head and gripper as customizable and explains that the robot can carry heavy industrial tools with an extended arm. A humanoid product's useful end effector can therefore depend on the application and selected configuration, rather than a single permanent hand specification. [3]

Terminology and specification traps

Grip force and arm payload measure different things. Pollen's gripper specification reports nominal and peak force in newtons, while an arm payload describes carried mass. A gripper-force value should not be copied into a payload field or interpreted as an arbitrary object's supported weight. [2, 3]

The contact surfaces matter. Interchangeable gripper tips can alter the attachment used in a task, so a result obtained with one configuration should identify it. Reachy 2's documentation specifically distinguishes its default tips from the option to replace them. [2]

Tooling also changes the complete robot application. OSHA treats the end effector, workpiece and surrounding equipment as part of the system to assess. A property of the bare arm does not automatically characterize a setup with a different tool and object. [1]

How to read it on humanoidversus.com

Read hand_type as the site's description of the fitted or optional manipulation device, even when the device is a gripper. dof_per_hand and payload_kg add different kinds of information; the notes should preserve which attachment and operating condition the source describes.

Reachy 2 and TALOS are linked because their records cite the relevant gripper or tool descriptions. There is no end-effector ranking here. The hand hub helps locate configurations, but comparing a task-specific tool with a multi-finger hand requires the actual task and object, not a shared count of fingers. [2, 3]

Further reading

OSHA defines end effectors within complete robot systems. Pollen provides an explicit gripper specification, and PAL's TALOS page shows how configurable tooling and arm payload appear in a humanoid product description. [1–3]