• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.246-250
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• 2003

In this study, two new types of micro-grippers in which micro-fingers are actuated by piezoelectric multi-layer benders and stacks are introduced for the manipulation of micrometer-sized objects. First, we constructed a 3-chopstick-mechanism tungsten gripper, which is composed of three chopsticks: two are designed to grip micro-objects, and tile third is used to help grasp and release the objects through overcoming especially electrostatic force among some surface effects including electrostatic, van der Waals forces and surface tension. Second, a 2-chopstick-mechanism silicon micro-gripper that uses an integrated force sensor to control the gripping force was developed. The micro-gripper is composed of a piezoelectric multilayer bender for actuating the gripper fingers, silicon fingertips fabricated by use of silicon-based micromachining, and supplementary supports. The micro-gripper is referred to as a hybrid-type micro-gripper because it is composed of two main components; micro-fingertips fabricated using micromachining technology to integrate a very sensitive force sensor for measuring the gripping force, and piezoelectric gripper finger actuators that are capable of large gripping forces and moving strokes. The gripping force signal was found to have a sensitivity of 667 N/V. To the design of each of components of both of the grippers. a systematic design approach was applied, which made it possible to establish the functional requirements and design parameters of the micro-grippers. The micro-grippers were installed on a manual manipulator to assess its performance in tasks such as moving micro-objects from one position to a desired position. The experiment showed that the micro-grippers function effectively.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1772-1777
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• 2003

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and calibration of a piezoelectric polymer-based sensorized microgripper. Electro discharge machining technology is employed to fabricate super-elastic alloy based micro gripper. It is tested to present improvement of mechanical performance. For integration of force sensor on the micro gripper, the sensor design based on the piezoelectric polymer PVDF film and fabrication process are presented. The calibration and performance test of force sensor integrated micro gripper are experimentally carried out. The force sensor integrated micro gripper is applied to perform fme alignment tasks of micro opto-electrical components. It successfully supplies force feedback to the operator through the haptic device and plays a main role in preventing damage of assembly parts by adjusting the teaching command.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.251-255
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• 2003

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and calibration of a piezoelectric polymer-based sensorized microgripper. Electro discharge machining technology is employed to fabricate super-elastic alloy based micro gripper. It is tested to present improvement of mechanical performance. For integration of force sensor on the micro gripper, the sensor design based on the piezoelectric polymer PVDF film and fabrication process are presented. The calibration and performance test of force sensor integrated micro gripper are experimentally carried out. The force sensor integrated micro gripper is applied to perform fine alignment tasks of micro opto-electrical components. It successfully supplies force feedback to the operator through the haptic device and plays a main role in preventing damage of assembly parts by adjusting the teaching command.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.7 s.172
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• pp.164-169
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• 2005

The micro-gripper system is one of the systems that should be improved in the respect of performance for practical usage. In the previous works, the important issues are considered and presented using axiomatic design approach. In this paper, the functional requirements and design parameters are evaluated in order to improve the performance and efficiency of the system. The evaluation is a very difficult task since many variables are related to the outcomes. To provide a basis for correct design decisions, axiomatic design principles have been advanced. Since the framework of axiomatic design makes design issues easier to understand when they are analyzed, we used those as an evaluation tool. The object of the system is to handle micro-size parts. Main device is a micro-gripper using two bender-typed and one stack-typed PZTs as actuators. And it has three tips made of tungsten wires fur holding function. Also the system must satisfy other functional requirements for appropriate handling performance. The results of this study show design improvements of micro-gripper system such as structural change of gripper, additional element, and integration of physical parts. Axiomatic design guides presented suitable design parameters corresponding to functional requirements and made the design elements improve through diagrams of whole system.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2007

In this paper, a robotic system which consists of a precision manipulator and a micro gripper for a micro system assembly is presented. By the experiment, we proved that the developed the system gives acceptable performance when minute operations. Developed the micro-nano robot is actuated by newly proposed modular revolute and prismatic actuators. As an end-effector of this system, micro gripper is designed and fabricated with MEMS technology and the displacement of jaw is up to 142.8 micro meter. We think that new robot system will be appropriate for micro system assembly tasks and life science application.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1541-1555
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• 2015

In this paper mechanical behavior of the functional gradient materials (FGM) micro-gripper under thermal load and DC voltage is numerically investigated taking into account the effect of intermolecular forces. In contrary to the similar previous works, which have been conducted for homogenous material, here, the FGM material has been implemented. It is assumed that the FGM micro-gripper is made of metal and ceramic and that material properties are changed continuously along the beam thickness according to a given function. The nonlinear governing equations of the static and dynamic deflection of microbeams have been derived using the coupled stress theory. The equations have been solved using the Galerkin based step-by-step linearization method (SSLM). The solution procedure has been evaluated against available data of literature showing good agreement. A parametric study has been conducted, focusing on the combined effects of important parameters included DC voltage, temperature variation, geometrical dimensions and ceramic volume concentration on the dynamic response and stability of the FGM micro-gripper.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1994.11a
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• pp.422-424
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• 1994

A comb drive electrostatic micro gripper was designed and fabricated. We designed it analytically using electrostatic force and cantilever deflection equation. In fabrication, we used LIGA-like technology consisted of Ni electroplating through polyimide patterned by $O_2$ Plasma RIE and Al sacrificial layer. This micro gripper was designed to handle an optical fiber which is $125{\mu}m$ in diameter.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.103.1-103
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• 2001

This paper presents the development of a micro gripper for grasping miniature sized parts in micro-assembly. Particularly, we have paid attention to the problem of manipulating objects of a well defined size range: the one between 1 mm and 0.1mm. In fact, objects larger than 1 mm can be easily handled by conventional precise grippers, while objects smaller than 1 $\mu\textrm{m}$ can be manipulated with special tools like AFM or STM. In this range, we can distinguish between mechanical and biological objects. We have focused our gripping research on the micro mechanical objects. We started from a f degree of freedom planar configuration. The structure of the micro gripper was a type of the elastic flexure hinge and was fabricated in ...

• Journal of the KSME
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• v.46 no.1 s.302
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• pp.58-64
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• 2006

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.675-676
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• 2007