Electric grippers are becoming more popular for applications that require high speeds and for those requiring light or moderate grip forces. Electric is also cleaner than either pneumatic or hydraulic and, therefore, electric grippers are very effective for handling products such as circuit boards or other dust sensitive products.  

Another major advantage of electric powered grippers is control. A microprocessor can be added to an electric gripping system which can be made to vary clamping force and velocity. This can be done at little additional cost, making the gripper able to cope with a variety of sizes and shapes and reducing the need to change grippers to accommodate different types of parts.