PZT driven triple-finger end effectors for micro-manipulation

This paper presented the design, simulation, fabrication and evaluation of the discrete triple-finger end effectors. In the design, three cantilevers were considered as the finger of end effectors. Tungsten tipped probes were used to pick and place the micro-objects. The cantilevers were driven by piezoelectric ceramic transducer (PZT). In the simulation, the finite element analysis had been used to optimize the whole device and analyze the stress of the model. The total deformation and the stress had been worked out to assist the fabrication. With the fabrication of the device, the triple-finger end effectors had been assembled to manipulate the borosilicate glass spheres of different size. Two-layered structures were also built with the discrete triple-finger end effectors. The maximum stroke of every probe was 70 μm. Fine positioning was achieved by the use of piezoelectric actuation. The manipulation of micro-spheres had been carried out to show applied range of the triple-finger device with piezoelectric actuator. This device could manipulate the spheres of the size from 20-40 μm and could place them to the target place in 1 s.