Non-contact handling of hard-disk media by human operator using electrostatic levitation and haptic Device

This paper focuses on a practical application of handling contact sensitive objects, such as silicon wafers or hard disk media by a human operator, without any mechanical contact using electrostatic levitation. Stable electrostatic levitation can be realized by controlling the electrostatic attractive force based on measured air gaps. A haptic device is combined with the electrostatic levitation system to minimize human disturbances to the levitated object. Especially during the picking up or placing of the object, where human disturbance is largest, instabilities can be prevented. For the human operator, the handling is easy and intuitive as the objects can be handled by simply moving the tool to the object. The interaction between operator, haptic device, and electrostatic levitation is described in detail. Experimental results show the characteristics of both the pick up task, as well as the place task, which is realized automatically without any external control command.