Festo’s New Hygienic Adaptive Gripper Revolutionizes Workflows in Food, Pharma, Cosmetic Industries
December 5, 2025
The Festo HPSX universal adaptive gripper is a groundbreaking hygienic soft gripper engineered to handle delicate, irregularly shaped, and hygienically sensitive products. Gripper fingers are produced from a soft silicone-based material, making them ideal for items that are easily damaged. HPSX can perform multiple picks per second.
The design of this pneumatic gripper is a significant advancement over traditional, rigid gripping solutions and addresses long-standing challenges in automating tasks in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries, where product damage is a concern. It has been tested to withstand acceleration up to 15 g-force, while holding up to 1.1 lbs.
The HPSX is highly corrosion resistant and features a sanitary design that makes it easy to clean and maintain. It has a high-pressure washdown rating of IP69k, which ensures it meets food safety regulations and cleanliness standards. The materials used are food-grade and metal-detectable.
The HPSX all-in-one gripper handles a wide variety of different shapes and sizes without requiring a tool change, which is an important benefit for applications such as kitting in the cosmetics industry, where a single gripper may need to pick up multiple different products. The HPSX is available in three sizes (40 mm, 70 mm, and 100 mm) and in two-, three-, and four-finger designs. Nine different forms widen its application range. HPSX features a universal ISO50 fitting for robotic end-of-arm tooling.
Festo research and development focused on refining the gripper’s shape, dimensions, and internal geometry to maximize gripping force and minimize air volume for faster picking. The material’s consistency was carefully chosen to be soft enough to prevent damage but firm enough to grasp objects and move with sufficient acceleration.
The HPSX works seamlessly with Festo’s other automation components, such as controllers, valves, and pneumatic systems. This can significantly reduce the time and effort required for installation and programming as the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) doesn’t have to worry about compatibility issues between different vendors’ products.
Having a single point of contact for all automation needs simplifies troubleshooting, maintenance, and support. This major benefit for OEMs and end users can reduce downtime and streamline their operations. The ISO50 universal fitting makes HPSX accessible to an even wider market and aims to compete with other gripper manufacturers by offering a flexible solution that can be easily attached to existing robotic arms.
About Festo
Festo, the world’s leading supplier of automation technology and technical education, is deploying its products and services to meet the challenges of digitalization and smart production. Founded in 1925, the family-owned company based in Esslingen, Germany, supports a wide range of needs for advanced solutions in factory and process automation. In Canada, Festo has been supporting Canadian industry for 50 years, continuously elevating the state of manufacturing in this country with innovative products, optimized motion control solutions and unrivalled support.
Globally, some 300,000 customers put their trust in the company’s pneumatic and electric drive products and technology. In addition, Festo Didactic provides state-of-the-art training equipment and educational programs for industrial companies and educational institutions – about 56,000 customers worldwide. The Festo Group registered sales of €3.45 billion in the 2024 financial year and is represented worldwide at 250 locations with over 20,600 employees. About 8.8% of its annual turnover is invested in research and development.
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