A Dual-Axis Electrostatically Driven MEMS Microgripper. (24th November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jia, Yukun; Jia, Minping; Xu, Qingsong
• Is Part Of: International journal of advanced robotic systems. Volume 11:Number 11(2014)
• Publication Date: 2014-11-24
• Subjects: MEMS -- Microgripper -- Electrostatic actuator -- Capacitive sensor; Robotics -- Periodicals; Robotics; Periodicals; 629.892
• DOI: 10.5772/59677
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1729-8806

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a new monolithic two-axis electrostatically actuated MEMS microgripper with integrated capacitive position and force sensors working at the micro-scale level. Each of the two jaws of the microgripper possesses two degrees-of-freedom (DOF) and is capable of positioning in both x-and y-axes. Unlike existing works, where one gripper arm is actuated and other one is sensed, both arms of the proposed microgripper are actuated and sensed independently. A sensing scheme is constructed to provide the position and force signals in the noncontact and contact phases, respectively. By applying a 120V driving voltage, the jaw can provide 70 μm x-axis and 18 μm y-axis displacements with the force of 190 μN. By this design, the real-time position and grasping force information can be obtained in the dual sensing mode. Both analytical calculation and finite-element analysis (FEA) were performed to verify the performance of the proposed design. A scaled-up prototype is designed, fabricated and tested through the experiment to verify the structure design of the microgripper.