Design of 3-DOF parallel mechanism with thin plate for micro finger module in micro manipulation

A dexterous micro manipulation system was developed for applications such as assembling micro machines, manipulating cells, and micro surgery. We (1996, 1999) have proposed a concept of a two fingered micro hand, and designed and built a prototype. We succeeded in performing basic micro manipulations, including the grasp, release, and rotation of a microscopic object. The two-fingered micro hand prototype needs to be more miniaturized for higher accuracy and use in the small chamber of SEM. In this paper, we propose a new 3-DOF parallel mechanism for the micromanipulator in order to achieve low cost and small size. The new mechanism is only used for punching holes and bending a thin plate. The two-fingered micro hand with the mechanism was designed and a prototype developed. An experiment shows the excellent micro capability of the mechanism.