Thia paper introduces a new =pproach to material handling, part sarting and composentassemly allede "gasping". in wtich a single reconfigurable gnsper with embeddedmnllience replaces an entire bank of unique, fixed shupe grppers and tool changen. Tepeciate the motivations that guided the design of Bart'e grasper, we must explore whatis wrong wiuh robotics today. the enormous potenial for robotics in the future, and the dead-end legacy of grpper olutions.