Micro gripper driven by SDAs coupled to an amplification mechanism

This paper presents a microgripper actuated by a train of 16 scratch drive actuators coupled to an amplification mechanism. The gripper mechanism design, the principle of the amplification mechanism and the fabrication process requiring four levels of polysilicon are presented. Moreover, the gripper mechanism has been modeled by finite elements method, using CASTEM 2000/sup /spl trade//. Then, the amplification ratio of displacement, the critical buckling load and the force applied to the grasped object are determined. The experiment parameters such as actuation voltage and excitation frequency are given. Finally, based on video observations, kinematics characterization is performed.