GraphiCore reaches TRL 5 with vacuum gripper tested to 1,400°C

GraphiCore’s vacuum gripper holds contact on a glowing refractory block at over 1,000°C during laboratory testing, with thermal imaging confirming heat distribution across the gripper and target material

(Image courtesy of GraphiCore)

GraphiCore‘s high-temperature gripping systems have cleared a significant validation threshold, demonstrating stable vacuum gripping at temperatures up to 1,400°C and a lifting capacity of approximately 1.3 tons per square metre. The results, achieved during a recent test campaign that reached Technology Readiness Level 5, challenge a long-held assumption that vacuum gripping is inherently unsuitable for extreme environments. For industries where hot components must be handled without extended cooldown periods, the implications reach well beyond the laboratory.

Why high-temperature gripping systems are a hard engineering problem

Extreme environments remain one of the last major barriers to full industrial automation. In nuclear decommissioning, advanced manufacturing, and fusion energy, operations are still constrained by temperature, radiation, dust, and material fragility. These conditions rule out conventional robotic end effectors, forcing reliance on mechanical gripping, telemanipulation, or staged cooling processes, each of which adds inefficiency and operational risk.

GraphiCore was founded to address a specific bottleneck within this landscape: the safe and efficient handling of graphite blocks in legacy reactors. Fragile, irradiated blocks must move without fragmentation or dust generation, conditions that expose the limits of rigid, high-contact-stress tooling. That founding challenge, however, quickly revealed something broader. The core problem was not graphite itself. It was manipulation under extreme conditions as a general engineering discipline.

That insight drove the development of two complementary systems. The first is a vacuum-based gripper built from ceramics and high-performance metals, designed for environments exceeding 1,200°C. The second is a soft robotic gripper with integrated tactile sensing, enabling closed-loop control during manipulation. Both systems are built around a single design philosophy GraphiCore describes as material-agnostic gripping: end effectors capable of interfacing with metals, ceramics, and composites without requiring significant redesign for each application. Rather than tailoring the tool to a specific object, the goal is a platform that adapts to the material.

Validation results push high-temperature gripping systems to TRL 5

The recent test campaign validated the vacuum gripper against conditions that reflect real industrial rather than idealised laboratory environments. The system held stable contact on contaminated stainless steel at 1,200°C, where crust formation on the surface created the kind of irregular, degraded interface that standard vacuum grippers cannot reliably handle. It then gripped mullite successfully at 1,400°C, a result that matters because mullite is a refractory ceramic used precisely in the high-temperature linings that fusion and industrial systems depend on.

Vacuum gripping has traditionally been considered unsuitable for extreme environments due to sealing degradation, material creep, and surface irregularities. Achieving reliable adhesion at these temperatures, and on contaminated surfaces, directly challenges that assumption. The lifting capacity of approximately 1.3 tons per square metre adds further commercial relevance: this is not a demonstration of contact alone but of load-bearing performance under thermal stress.

The next development phase targets two objectives. Lifting capacity will advance toward the 3 to 5 tons per square metre range, and durability will be validated through thermal and mechanical cycling. Cycle fatigue is particularly critical for nuclear and fusion applications, where systems must sustain repeated operations over long periods without maintenance access. Industrial scaling depends on that kind of demonstrated longevity, not just peak performance under controlled conditions.

Soft robotics and tactile sensing in extreme environments

In parallel, GraphiCore is developing a soft gripper capable of operating under similar conditions. This system integrates tactile sensing to enable closed-loop control during manipulation, a capability that has practical consequences for how components in degraded or uncertain states can be handled.

Soft robotics has traditionally been confined to low-temperature, clean environments. Extending it to extreme environments represents a step change for the field, particularly for materials that have undergone thermal or radiation-induced degradation and can no longer be assumed to hold predictable geometries or structural integrity. The combination of compliance and sensing reduces contact stress on brittle surfaces, allows adaptation to unknown geometries, and improves reliability in unstructured environments where rigid tooling would either damage the component or fail to achieve stable contact.

The material choices underlying both systems also carry implications beyond temperature performance. Ceramics and certain high-performance metals exhibit strong resistance to radiation-induced degradation, particularly relative to the polymers commonly used in conventional soft robotics or sealing systems. This opens a credible path toward deploying these technologies in environments where both thermal and radiation constraints coexist, a combination that defines the operating reality of fusion and advanced nuclear systems.

Fusion energy applications and the case for material-agnostic gripping

Fusion systems, including those under development at ITER and other next-generation facilities, present a convergence of extreme conditions: high temperature, radiation fields, vacuum environments, and severely limited accessibility. Maintenance and remote handling remain central challenges. Current approaches often depend on rigid tooling, complex mechanical interfaces, or long cooldown periods before any intervention can take place.

High-temperature gripping systems built on vacuum and soft robotic principles introduce a different paradigm. Hot component handling becomes possible without waiting for cooldown, directly reducing downtime and improving operational efficiency. Refractory material management, replacing or servicing the brittle linings that fusion and high-temperature industrial systems depend on, becomes safer when the end effector can conform to irregular or degraded surfaces rather than demanding ideal conditions. Debris and irregular object retrieval, where components have deformed or partially failed, also becomes more tractable when the gripping system adapts to geometry rather than requiring it.

The concept of material-agnostic gripping also reduces system complexity in a more fundamental sense. Vacuum and soft gripping can replace the need for highly customised mechanical interfaces, simplifying tool design and reducing integration effort. For fusion programs operating under significant cost and schedule pressure, that reduction in bespoke engineering has direct reactor economics implications.

Industrial robotics has long assumed that end effectors must match specific tasks. GraphiCore’s approach challenges that assumption by developing platforms that are inherently adaptable. Combined with the radiation compatibility of its chosen materials, this positions the technology for deployment across sectors where requirements are still evolving and where the cost of repeated tooling redesign is prohibitive.

Outlook

The recent test results mark an important step, but the technology remains in a transitional phase between demonstration and deployment. Increasing lifting capacity and validating long-term reliability through cycle testing will determine how quickly these systems move into operational use.

If those targets are met, high-temperature vacuum and soft gripping could redefine manipulation in extreme environments. For fusion energy in particular, where maintenance operability and power conversion efficiency both depend on minimising intervention time and complexity, these technologies may contribute to making reactors not only physically feasible but economically viable at scale.

The broader point stands regardless. Automation in extreme environments is no longer limited by actuation or sensing alone. The interface between machine and material, the end effector, is becoming the critical enabling layer, and the field-strength of that interface under real-world conditions is now what separates demonstration from deployment.

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