Design and control of a MEMS micro-gripper with integrated electro-thermal force sensor

This paper presents design and control of a MEMS micro-gripper with integrated electro-thermal force sensor. Due to the small foot-print of the sensor, it leads to a smaller size device, and a larger and more stable gripping force due to more space allocated for actuation. A nonlinear analytical model is generated to predict the gripping arm static characteristics. The model shows significant consistency with the experimental data. System identification was performed using an experimental step response data. A feedback loop with integrator is implemented to measure and track the desired gripping force. The Pick-and-Place operations on a 85 μm micro-bead are carried out using the fabricated gripper as the end effector. The experimental results show that the micro-gripper can successfully grasp and release the micro-object while tunning the gripping force in real time.