  The number of sequential tasks a single gripper can perform is significantly
limited by its design. In many cases, changing the gripper fingers is required
to successfully conduct multiple consecutive tasks. For this reason, several
robotic tool change systems have been introduced that allow an automatic
changing of the entire end-effector. However, many situations require only the
modification or the change of the fingertip, making the exchange of the entire
gripper uneconomic. In this paper, we introduce a paradigm for automatic
task-specific fingertip production. The setup used in the proposed framework
consists of a production and task execution unit, containing a robotic
manipulator, and two 3D printers - autonomously producing the gripper fingers.
It also consists of a second manipulator that uses a quick-exchange mechanism
to pick up the printed fingertips and evaluates gripping performance. The setup
is experimentally validated by conducting automatic production of three
different fingertips and executing graspstability tests as well as multiple
pick- and insertion tasks, with and without position offsets - using these
fingertips. The proposed paradigm, indeed, goes beyond fingertip production and
serves as a foundation for a fully automatic fingertip design, production and
application pipeline - potentially improving manufacturing flexibility and
representing a new production paradigm: tactile 3D manufacturing.
