Wire Harness Assembly: A Review of Gripper Technologies, Automation, and Robotic Manipulation

Robotic wire harness assembly remains difficult to automate because the harness’s physical behavior must be reconciled with the requirements of industrial assembly across a sequence of dependent operations. This review addresses that problem by providing a unified view of the research landscape and by clarifying how existing technological developments contribute to complete wire harness automation. The contemporary analytical window covers publications from 2019 to August 2026, while earlier studies are retained selectively when they provide foundational technical context. The literature was reviewed through a structured, PRISMA-inspired evidence-mapping workflow and organized through six interconnected research domains. A transversal classification was combined with frequency analysis and binary association mapping to examine the distribution of research effort and patterns of cross-domain co-representation. The results reveal broad technical development throughout the proposed taxonomy. Higher associations are concentrated within a technical core linking robotic tasks, DLO manipulation, perception, and control, whereas manufacturing requirements are less frequently co-represented and reusable research infrastructure remains limited. These findings indicate that the current frontier of robotic wire harness assembly lies in the integration of existing capabilities. The resulting framework provides a structured foundation for navigating the field and directing future research toward cumulative and industrially relevant systems.