Deriving and analyzing the effective parameters in microgrippers performance

The microgripper is a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) with the ability to handle and manipulate micron or sub micron objects precisely. They have many applications in micro assembly, biology, tissue engineering and so on. In this paper, the effective parameters on the performance and designing of the microgrippers are derived by reviewing and comparing their different types. These parameters are: material specification, displacement amplification factor, gripping range and stroke, jaw motion characteristic, normally open and normally closed gripper, ideal shape of tips, aspect ratio, number of degree of freedom and micro actuator specifications. These parameters are introduced and their influences on gripper performance are studied. Knowing all the effective parameters and analyzing the effect of each parameter on micro gripper performance is the first step towards design of new optimized microgrippers. Finally, an overall algorithm to design the microgripper is proposed.