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Micromachines for Biological Micromanipulation pp 145–168Cite as

Design and Development of a Flexure-Based Compact Constant-Force Robotic Gripper

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Abstract

This chapter presents the design of a novel flexure-based compliant gripper with constant gripping force and compact structure size for cell micromanipulation applications. The gripper removes the use of force sensor and provides a near constant force output via its mechanical structure, which greatly simplifies the system design process. The compact size of the gripper is achieved by the serial connection of a bistable beam and a positive-stiffness beam. Moreover, a combined mechanism, which can alter the fixing angle of the two gripper jaws, is developed to enlarge the handling size. Analytical modeling and finite element analysis are conducted to predict the gripper performance. A prototype gripper is fabricated by 3D printer, and a series of experiments are carried out to verify its performance. Grasp testing of crab egg embryos has been carried out to demonstrate its effectiveness in biological micromanipulation application.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electromechanical Engineering, University of Macau, Macau, China

    Qingsong Xu

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  1. Qingsong Xu
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Correspondence to Qingsong Xu .

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Xu, Q. (2018). Design and Development of a Flexure-Based Compact Constant-Force Robotic Gripper. In: Micromachines for Biological Micromanipulation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74621-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74621-0_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74620-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74621-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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