Microgripper design for use in parallel microassembly processes

This paper presents a design of SOI microgripper for use in parallel microassembly processes. Two capacitive force sensors were integrated onto the design to monitor the force experienced by the microgripper during the assembly. Capacitive force feedback from the sensors allowed the detection of whether or not all microparts were properly aligned and grasped simultaneously. In this paper, the design of the microgripper and microparts were presented and their mechanical responses to an assembly force were examined experimentally. The proposed parallel microgripper was tested under three different scenarios to evaluate the performance in detecting misalignment during the parallel microassembly processes.