Adhesive tapes have a definitive role in automated production processes and provide real-world, measurable competitive benefits. Robots must be fed with tapes or other materials required for assembly.

There are a crazy number of adhesive tapes available, and in this article I’d like to discuss a few of the ones I’ve found useful in my lab, and their sometimes surprising applications.

The solution? A tape-cutting robot, of course! (YouTube video, embedded below.) At the heart of the machine is a pair of scissors operated by a stepper motor, snipping away at the component tape ...