5-inch-size contactless gripper using arrayed spiral air flows

We present a novel application of the MEMS technology to a contactless gripper using arrayed spiral air flows, aimed at the mitigation of flow-induced vibration of levitated objects. For robot end-effector dealing with fragile objects such as silicon wafers and solar panels, we employ an air flow-based gripping technique with continuous air-blowing, which would enable damage-free handling without contamination. We design the gripper based on the concept of distributed forcing with arrayed spiral-flow chambers and suction holes. In this paper, we show the basic characteristics of proof-of-concept devices, and extend our proposed concept to design and fabricate enlarged grippers in a size of 5 inch square. It is shown that the attraction force is successfully obtained by the negative pressure of a spiral flow in each chamber, and that suction holes play an important role in eliminating the interaction between the neighboring chambers and narrowing the holding gap so as to increase the force density over the entire object.