title: A vacuum microgripping tool with integrated vibration releasing capability.
abstract: Pick-and-place of micro-objects is a basic task in various micromanipulation demands. Reliable releasing of micro-objects is usually disturbed due to strong scale effects. This paper focuses on a vacuum micro-gripper with vibration releasing functionality, which was designed and assembled for reliable micromanipulation tasks. Accordingly, a vibration releasing strategy of implementing a piezoelectric actuator on the vacuum microgripping tool is presented to address the releasing problem. The releasing mechanism was illustrated using a dynamic micro contact model. This model was developed via theoretical analysis, simulations and pull-off force measurement using atomic force microscopy. Micromanipulation experiments were conducted to verify the performance of the vacuum micro-gripper. The results show that, with the assistance of the vibration releasing, the vacuum microgripping tool can achieve reliable release of micro-objects. A releasing location accuracy of 4.5±0.5 μm and a successful releasing rate of around 100% (which is based on 110 trials) were achieved for manipulating polystyrene microspheres with radius of 35-100 μm.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
authors.forename: Weibin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
authors.forename: Zenghua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
authors.forename: Lefeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
authors.forename: Lining
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun