Solving Tony's 400 Suction Cup Project

[klipo]

Hi everyone!
I am not sure if I am posting in right place, please correct me if needed.
I have an interesting project in my mind. And I need some help as I do not know how to implement it.
I need 400 suction cups and all of them have to be working independently.
Cups are supposed to be quite small (7-8mm in diameter). Kind of http://www.anver.com/images/components/f7-si.jpg".
Each cup has to lift a weight of ~15 grams (~0.5 ounces). It lifts like for 10 seconds and then releases.
They all have to be controlled by computer. And each of them has to be operated individually.
I was thinking of using 400 solenoids. But they appear to be not very cheap. Besides I do not know what other details are needed to be able to control them by computer.
Probably there is a better solution than solenoids. Maybe single big volume vacuum engine, and every suction cup controlled by valve.
I will be thankful for any information and help.
Regards,
Tony.

 

[edgepflow]

You could consider manifold solenoid valves. If you want to control each suction cup independently, you will need 400 valves. You would then need a PLC with 400 I/Os.

You could reduce your hardware if you group the suction cups. Could you run 10 per bank? This would reduce your valve and I/O count to 40.