138 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 18, NO.

1, FEBRUARY 2013

A Monolithic Compliant Piezoelectric-Driven

Microgripper: Design, Modeling, and Testing
D. H. Wang, Q. Yang, and H. M. Dong

Abstract—In this paper, we report on the design, modeling, and ally less than 100 μm in dimension and fragile [3], [4], [6],
experimental testing of a piezoelectric-driven microgripper mak- so that microgrippers play a crucial role in micromanipula-
ing use of both an integrated gripping force sensor and an inte- tion and microassembly. A typical microgripper consists of
grated tip displacement sensor. In the developed microgripper, a
stack piezoelectric ceramic actuator is used to simultaneously ob- a microactuator, microdisplacement transmission mechanism
tain the tip displacement and the gripping force. A novel monolithic (μDTM), and a pair of gripping jaws. Piezoelectric actuators
compliant mechanism is proposed to act as the microdisplacement are widely used as microactuators in micromanipulation and
transmission mechanism to obtain the large tip displacement and to microassembly [1], [2], [16]–[20], [36], and their displacement
provide the possibility of integrating both the gripping force sensor output is usually amplified by μDTMs before transferring to
and the tip displacement sensor into the microgripper. The relation-
ship between the gripping force, tip displacement, input force, and gripping jaws. Compliant mechanisms [21], which consist of
input displacement of the piezoelectric-driven microgripper and flexure members connected to each other by single-axis flexure
the dynamic model are established using the pseudorigid-body- hinges, are usually used as μDTMs, and right circular flexure
model method. The characteristics of the developed microgripper hinges are usually used to design the compliant mechanisms
are tested and the case of gripping an optical fiber is presented. The for microgrippers [15], [17], [22]–[24]. In recently published
experimental results indicate that: 1) the theoretical model for the
developed microgripper matched well with the measured results; works [12], [18]–[20], [25]- [27], leaf-type flexure hinges are
2) the integrated gripping force sensor and tip displacement sensor used to realize the compliant mechanisms for microgrippers and
could accurately measure the gripping force and tip displacement; microtweezers. The position accuracy and repeatability of the
3) the developed microgripper could achieve a displacement mag- gripping arms are worse than those with right circular flexure
nification of 16.0× with respect to the stack piezoelectric ceramic hinges because the rotation center of leaf-type flexure hinges
actuator to realize the large tip displacement with high resolution
but is also able to possess the parallel movement of its gripping has large deviation when they rotate [28]. In this case, the feed-
jaws and the constant displacement magnification. back control of the gripping force and the tip displacement will
be more difficult.
Index Terms—Flexure hinge, gripping force sensor, microgrip-
per, monolithic compliant mechanism, stack piezoelectric ceramic Up to now, the opening and closing of the gripping jaws of
actuator, tip displacement sensor. most microgrippers are realized by their rotation [26]. When a
spherical or circular object is gripped by a microgripper relying
I. INTRODUCTION on the rotation of the gripping jaws, a gripping force component
ICROMANIPULATION [1]–[8] and microassembly parallel to the center line between the two gripping jaws will
M [9]–[11], which involve handling microdevices, are
widely applied to realize the manipulation of cells and bio-
be generated and lead to the ejection of the manipulated object.
If the gripping jaws move in parallel, the gripping task can be
logical tissues [4]–[7] and the microassembly of microelec- completed more easily and reliably [22]. In this case, the parallel
tromechanical systems (MEMS) [9]–[11]. In micromanipula- movement of gripping jaws should be ensured when designing
tion and microassembly systems, microgrippers are endeffec- microgrippers.
tors to directly contact manipulated objects, which are usu- In addition, monitoring the tip displacement and the grip-
ping force is the key for the feedback control of microgrippers.
The existing research works mainly focus on integrating grip-
ping force sensors into microgrippers to monitor the gripping
Manuscript received September 2, 2010; revised January 6, 2011, April 21, force [7], [13], [14], [16]. To the best of our knowledge, no in-
2011, and July 3, 2011; accepted July 19, 2011. Date of publication Septem- vestigations on the integration of both the gripping force sensor
ber 12, 2011; date of current version September 12, 2012. Recommended by
Technical Editor R. B. Mrad. This work was supported in part by the Program and the tip displacement sensor into microgrippers come into
for New Century Excellent Talents in University under Grant NCET-05-0765 view, due to the particular structure of compliant mechanisms
and in part by the Foundation for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral for microgrippers.
Dissertation of China under Grant 200132.
D. H. Wang is with the Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology and Up to now, more and more microdevices are fabricated by
Systems of the Ministry of Education of China, and the Precision and In- microassembling micro- to mezoscale elements together. For
telligence Laboratory, Department of Optoelectronic Engineering, Chongqing example, the dimensional size of the elements to compose
University, Chongqing 400044, China (e-mail: [email protected]).
Q. Yang and H. M. Dong are with the Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, the ignition targets for the ignition campaign ranges from one
Department of Optoelectronic Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing nanometer to several millimeters [29]. Correspondingly, the
400044, China (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]). weight of the elements also varies sharply. In order to com-
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. plete the aforementioned microassembly tasks, microgrippers
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMECH.2011.2163200 also need to meet the following design objectives: the large tip

1083-4435/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE

WANG et al.: MONOLITHIC COMPLIANT PIEZOELECTRIC-DRIVEN MICROGRIPPER: DESIGN, MODELING, AND TESTING 139

displacement with high resolution and large gripping force with

high resolution. For the microgrippers manufactured by MEMS
technology [12], they cannot satisfy the aforementioned require-
ments due to small tip displacement and low gripping force. The
microgrippers manufactured by microelectrical discharge ma-
chining (μEDM) [17]–[19] and laser cutting [20] are the best
two alternatives. Nah and Zhong [17] developed a piezoelectric-
driven microgripper with a displacement magnification of 3.0
and a maximum stroke of 170 μm, in which a piezoelectric ac-
tuator with an output displacement of 60 μm is needed. Zubir
et al. [18], [19] developed a microgripper with a displacement
magnification of 2.85 and a maximum output displacement of
25 μm. Due to small displacement magnification, the tip dis-
placement of microgrippers was confined. In the aforemen- Fig. 1. Exploded 3-D drawing of the MCM based piezoelectric-driven micro-
gripper.
tioned microgrippers, the leaf-type flexure hinges are adopted
and no gripping force sensors and tip displacement sensors are
integrated.
Given the previous design objectives, this paper describes the
design, modeling, and experimental testing of a piezoelectric-
driven microgripper with an integrated gripping force sensor
and an integrated tip displacement sensor. In order to obtain
both the high resolution of the tip displacement and the high
gripping force, a stack piezoelectric ceramic actuator (SPCA) is
used in the developed microgripper. At the same time, in order
to obtain the large tip displacement and to integrate both the
gripping force sensor and the tip displacement sensor into the
microgripper, a novel monolithic compliant mechanism (MCM)
is proposed to act as the μDTM. The relationships between the
tip displacement, gripping force, input displacement, and in-
put force of the piezoelectric-driven microgripper, and the dy-
namic model are established using the pseudorigid-body-model
(PRBM) method [21]. The characteristics of the developed
piezoelectric-driven microgripper are tested using the estab-
lished experimental setup and the case of gripping an optical
fiber with the developed microgripper is presented.

Fig 2. 3-D drawing of the MCM with an SPCA.

II. PRINCIPLE AND STRUCTURE OF THE
PIEZOELECTRIC-DRIVEN MICROGRIPPER
The 3-D drawing of the piezoelectric-driven microgripper single-notch right circular flexure hinges, which are connected
designed in this paper is shown in Fig. 1. As can be seen in by the double-notch right circular flexure hinges at two ends
Fig. 1, the piezoelectric-driven microgripper consists of the of the links B1 B2 and B1 B2 , respectively. The parallelogram
MCM, SPCA (type: PTBS200, output displacement: 0–18 μm, mechanisms are used to further amplify the output displacement
applied voltage: 0–200 V), tip displacement sensor based on of the lever mechanisms and ensure the parallel movement of
semiconductor strain gauges (type: HU-101-1K), gripping force the gripping jaws. In the MCM, the flexible beams connect the
sensor based on semiconductor strain gauges, base, cover plate, gripping jaws to the corresponding parallelogram mechanisms.
and baffle. The MCM is fixed on the base. One end of the SPCA Considering the benefits of low elasticity and density of titanium
is in contact with one end of the MCM and the other end is in alloys, the MCM is made from the titanium alloy (TC4) with
contact with the baffle fixed to the base. The pretightening force the following structural properties: elastic modulus of 117 GPa,
to the MCM can be provided and adjusted by the screw. The ultimate stress of 0.9 GPa, and density of 4.4 g/cm3 , as listed in
cover is just used to protect the microgripper. Table I.
The principle and configuration of the developed MCM for To grip an object, an applied voltage causes the SPCA to
the microgrippers is based on four-bar linkage mechanisms and elongate, which pushes the lever mechanisms (B1 CD and B1 C )
parallelogram mechanisms, as shown in Fig. 2. The MCM is of the MCM. This causes the gripping jaws to close to grip the
composed of the lever mechanisms (B1 CD and B1 C D ) based manipulated object due to the deformation of the parallelogram
on the double-notch right circular flexure hinges and the parallel- mechanisms. To return the SPCA to its initial position, the power
ogram mechanisms (A1 A2 A3 A4 and A1 A2 A3 A4 ) based on the is switched OFF, which causes the gripping jaws to open and
140 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 18, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2013

TABLE I
PARAMETERS FOR THE DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED MCM FOR
MICROGRIPPERS (UNIT: MILLIMETER)

release the manipulated object under the elastic force of the

flexure hinges.
As shown in Fig. 1, the gripping force sensor is realized by
the semiconductor strain gauges glued onto the flexible beams
connected to the gripping jaws and the tip displacement sen-
sor is realized by the semiconductor strain gauges glued onto
the single-notch flexure hinges of the parallelogram mecha-
nisms. The locations of semiconductor strain gauges pasted in
the MCM are determined according to the structural features
of the MCM and the theoretical analyses as well as the finite
element method, which are detailed in [30].
Fig. 3. Pseudorigid-body-model of the MCM.
III. ANALYSIS AND MODELING FOR THE
PIEZOELECTRIC-DRIVEN MICROGRIPPER
A. Kinematic Analysis
The static and dynamic characteristics of the developed mi-
crogripper are mainly determined by the MCM. When analyzing
the kinematic properties of the microgripper, we assume that:
1) the elastic deformation of the microgripper only occurs at the
flexure hinges and the other parts are considered as rigid bodies
and 2) the deformation in the flexure hinges is assumed to be pure
bending and the rotational angle is very small (generally less
than 1◦ ) without expansion and contraction deformation [31].
Based on the PRBM method [21], the flexure hinges can be
considered as movable hinges with torsion springs and the links
Fig. 4. Equivalent model of the four-bar linkage mechanism in the MCM and
can be considered as rigid rods. The PRBM of the MCM is the relationships between the rotation angles of the flexure hinges.
shown in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 3, A1 B2 B1 C is considered
equivalent to a four-bar linkage mechanism as shown in Fig. 4.
According to assumptions 1 and 2 [31], and assuming that the θD = −θC (5)
counterclockwise rotation angle is positive, the rotation angles
θA 1 , θA 2 , θA 3 , θA 4 , θB 1 , θB 2 , θC , and θD of the flexure hinges where φ1 and φ2 are the initial angles between the links CB1
A1 , A2 , A3 , A4 , B1 , B2 , C, and D are related by and A1 B2 and y-axis, respectively, as shown in Fig. 4. φ1 and
θA 1 = θA 2 = θA 3 = θA 4 = θA (1) φ2 satisfy
 
l2 rC + rB 1 + (tC /2) rB 2 + (tA /2)
θB 1 = (tan φ2 − tan φ1 ) − 1 θC (2) tan φ1 = and tan φ2 = .
l3 l2 l4
 
l2 l2
θB 2 = (tan φ1 − tan φ2 ) − θC (3) As shown in Fig. 3, the input displacement to the MCM,
l3 l4 the output displacement from the parallelogram mechanism in
l2 the MCM, and the tip displacement of the microgripper are
θA = − θC (4) represented by din , dA , and dg , respectively. The displacement
l4
WANG et al.: MONOLITHIC COMPLIANT PIEZOELECTRIC-DRIVEN MICROGRIPPER: DESIGN, MODELING, AND TESTING 141

magnification of the microgripper is defined as

dA
λ= . (6)
din
According to Fig. 3, (4), and (6), the displacement magnifi-
cation of the microgripper can be expressed as
l5 θ A l2 l5
λ≈ = . (7)
l1 θ C l1 l4
According to (7), the displacement magnification is constant
and the tip displacement varies linearly with the input displace-
ment when the structural parameters of the microgripper are
determined.
Fig. 5. Transverse deformation of the flexible beam in the MCM when grip-
B. Static Analysis ping an object.

As shown in Fig. 3, consider the microgripper with external

force Fin , which represents the input force to the microgripper. As shown in Fig. 5, the relationship between the vertical load
The external force work can be expressed as applied to one end of the cantilever beam and the displacement
1 in the direction of the load can be expressed as
W =Fin din . (8)
2
4L3
Considering that the effect of gravity is far less than the δ= Fg (12)
Ebh3
rigidity of the microgripper, the effect of gravity can be neglected
in analysis, so that the potential energy of the microgripper where L and h are the length and thickness of the cantilever
only depends on the rigidity of the flexure hinges. The elastic beam, respectively.
potential energy stored in the MCM can be expressed as Based on the energy method, W = EP . According to (1)–(7)
and (10)–(12), we have
EP
 4  Ebh3 1
1  Fg2 =
= KA i θA2 i + KB 1 θB2 1 + KB 2 θB2 2 + KC θC2 + 2
KD θ D 4L3 λ
2  
i=1 4l2
Fin dA − KA
1 l1 l4 l5
+ Fg δ (9) 
2 l4  2
where KA i is the bending rigidity of the single-notch right + ω KB 1 + ω22 KB 2 + KC + KD d2A (13)
l1 l2 l5 1
circular flexure hinge Ai (i =1–4); KB 1 , KB 2 , KC , and KD are
the bending rigidity of the double-notch right circular flexure where ω1 = (l2 /l3 ) (tan φ2 − tan φ1 ) − 1 and ω2 = (l2 /l3 )
hinges B1 , B2 , C, and D, respectively; Fg represents the gripping (tan φ1 − tan φ2 ) − (l2 /l4 ).
force; δ is the transverse deformation of the flexible beam when Equation (13) defines the relationship between the gripping
the gripping jaws have gripped the manipulated object, as shown force and the input force, output displacement, and displacement
in Fig. 5. According to [32], KA i can be expressed as magnification of the microgripper. According to (13), the larger
√ 5/2
the displacement magnification λ, the smaller the gripping force.
2EbtA i About (13), the discussions are as follows.
KA i ≈ 1/2
(tA i  rA i ) (10)
9πrA i 1) When the microgripper has not gripped the manipulated
object, neither the deformation of the flexible beam nor the
where E is the modulus of elasticity of the MCM; rA i and tA i gripping force occurs, namely, Fg = 0. When the gripping
are the radius and thickness of the flexure hinges Ai (i =1–4), force Fg equals zero, the tip displacement dg equals the
respectively; b is the width of the flexure hinges. Considering output displacement dA of the parallelogram mechanism,
that the four single-notch flexure hinges of the parallelogram namely, dg = dA . Substitution of dg = dA into (13) yields
mechanism possess the same structural parameters yields their the relationship between the tip displacement and the input
same bending rigidity, namely, KA 1 = KA 2 = KA 3 = KA 4 = force, which can be expressed as
KA . KB 1 , KB 2 , KC , and KD can be expressed as [33] 
5/2 5/2
4l2
2EbtB 1 2EbtB 2 2EbtC
5/2 dg = KA
KB 1 ≈ , KB 2 ≈ , KC ≈ , l1 l4 l5
1/2
9πrB 1 9πrB 2
1/2
9πrC
1/2
−1
l4  2
5/2 + ω1 KB 1 + ω22 KB 2 + KC + KD Fin .
2EbtD l1 l2 l5
KD ≈ 1/2
(tB i  rB i , tC  rC , tD  rD ). (11)
9πrD (14)
142 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 18, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2013

Equation (14) defines the relationship between the tip dis-

placement dg and input force Fin of the microgripper with-
out gripping force. According to (14), the tip displacement
is determined by the length of the links (l1 , l2 , l3 , l4 , and
l5 ) and the bending rigidity of the flexure hinges (KA i ,
KB 1 , KB 2 , KC , and KD ) of the MCM when the input
force is determined.
2) Taking the position of the gripping jaws when contact
occurs at the initial position, the tip displacement dg of
the microgripper does not change with increasing the input
force and/or the input displacement because the gripping Fig. 6. Schematic of the piezoelectric-driven microgripper system and the
jaws are fixed. In this case, the output displacement of the experimental setup.
parallelogram mechanism equals the displacement at the
end of the cantilever beam, namely, dA = δ. Substitution
of dA = δ into (13) and according to (12), the relationship l2 l5
τ = l1 Fin − Fg (20)
between the gripping force and the input force can be l4
expressed as where mi is the mass of the link i; Ji is the inertia of the link
  i; and Ji = (mi li2 /3). The movements of the links B1 B2 and
4l2 l4
Fg = λ + KA + A2 A3 and the tips of the microgripper can be approximated as
l1 l4 l5 l1 l2 l5
the parallel movement for the microdisplacement, J3 = J6 = 0.
 −1
 4L3 The term l1 Fin in (20) represents the equivalent torque applied
× ω12 KB 1 + ω22 KB 2 + KC + KD Fin . to the four-bar linkage mechanism with point C as the rotation
Ebh3
center by the input force Fin and the term (l2 l5 /l4 )Fg in (20)
(15)
represents the equivalent torque applied to the MCM by the
3) Generally, the gripping jaws will close and grip the ma- gripping force Fg .
nipulated object with increasing voltage applied to the The natural frequency of the microgripper can be expressed
microgripper and the deformation of the flexible beam as
can be obtained by 1 KM
fM = . (21)
δ = dA − d g . (16) 2π JM
According to (18), (19), and (21), the natural frequency of the
In this case, the relationship between the gripping force MCM can be improved by increasing the equivalent rigidity
and the input force of the microgripper is determined by of the MCM or decreasing the equivalent inertia moment of
(13). the MCM. Consider that the MCM is made up of the titanium
alloy (TC4) with the structural parameters listed in Table I. The
C. Dynamic Analysis natural frequency of the MCM determined by (21) is 359.56 Hz
As shown in Fig. 3, the PRBM of the MCM illustrates that while the first-order natural frequency of the MCM based on
the MCM is composed of the four-bar linkage mechanism com- the finite element method with the structural parameters listed
posed of links 1, 2, and 3 and the parallelogram mechanism in Table I is 341.11 Hz [30], which indicates the effectiveness
composed of links 4, 5, and 6. Utilizing Lagrange’s equation, of the established dynamic model to some extent.
the dynamic model for the microgripper can be established and
expressed as IV. PROTOTYPE OF THE PIEZOELECTRIC-DRIVEN
MICROGRIPPER
JM θ̈C + KM θC = τ (17)
The schematic of the developed prototype of the
where θC and θ̈C are the input angle and angular acceleration piezoelectric-driven microgripper is shown in the dashed-line
of the MCM, respectively; τ is the generalized torque applied frame in Fig. 6. It can be observed in Fig. 6 that the prototype of
to the MCM; JM and KM are the equivalent inertia moment the piezoelectric-driven microgripper consists of the mechani-
and equivalent rigidity of the MCM, respectively. According to cal system, actuator system, gripping force sensor system, tip
Fig. 3 and (17), JM , KM , and τ can be expressed as displacement sensor system, and controller system.
The mechanical system of the microgripper, as shown in
2 2
l2 l2 l5 Fig. 1, mainly consists of the MCM fixed on the base. The actu-
JM = J1 + J2 + (J4 + J5 ) + m3 l22 + m6
l4 l4 ator system consists of the SPCA and the power amplifier (type:
P&I-1, output voltage: 0–200 V, linearity: >99.98%, static rip-
(18)
ple: <20 mV, resolution: 10 mV [34]). The tip displacement
2
l2 sensor and the gripping force sensor are realized by connect-
KM = 4 KA + ω12 KB 1 + ω22 KB 2 + KC + KD (19)
l4 ing the semiconductor strain gauges on the flexure hinges of the
WANG et al.: MONOLITHIC COMPLIANT PIEZOELECTRIC-DRIVEN MICROGRIPPER: DESIGN, MODELING, AND TESTING 143

Fig. 8. Installation of the miniforce sensor and the integration of the gripping
Fig 7. Developed miniforce sensor: (a) schematic and (b) photograph. force sensor and the tip displacement sensor in the assembled microgripper.

parallelogram mechanism and the flexible beams in the MCM to

the dc strain amplifiers (type: San-ei 6M72) through the bridge
boxes.
The controller system of the prototype of the microgripper
is realized by the real-time simulation system (the dSPACE
DS1103 with MATLAB/Simulink from the dSPACE GmbH),
which picks up the outputs from the gripping force sensor system
and the tip displacement sensor system to determine the current
state of the microgripper. According to the determined state of
the microgripper, the real-time simulation system calculates the
control algorithm and generates the command voltage, which
is applied to the power amplifier to realize the corresponding
gripping.
Fig. 9. Relationships between the measured tip displacement of gripping jaw
1 of the microgripper and the voltage applied to the SPCA.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Experimental Setup the center of the experimental setup to acquire the data from the
LDV and the miniforce sensor system.
The schematic of the experimental setup to test the developed
When conducting experiments, the gripping force sensor and
piezoelectric-driven microgripper is shown in Fig. 6. As can be
the tip displacement sensor must be calibrated. Taking the LDV
observed in Fig. 6, the experimental setup is composed of the
as the standard displacement sensor, the tip displacement sensor
developed prototype of the piezoelectric-driven microgripper,
can be calibrated with the static accuracy of 0.981 μm and the
laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV, type: OFV-5000/OFV-505 from
resolution of 1.08 μm. Utilizing the structural characteristic of
the Polytec GmbH), real-time simulation system, and miniforce
the MCM of the microgripper, the gripping force sensor is cali-
sensor system. The LDV measures the displacement output (the
brated with the static accuracy of 1.289 mN and the resolution
input displacement) of the SPCA and the tip displacement of the
of 0.954 mN. The calibration method is detailed in [30].
microgripper. The miniforce sensor system developed in-house
is used to measure the input force to the microgripper. As shown
in Fig. 7, the miniforce sensor is realized by bonding two semi- B. Characteristics of the Tip Displacement
conductor strain gauges (type: HU-101-1K) onto two beams of The relationships between the measured tip displacement of
the S-beam structure. By connecting the two strain gauges to dc gripping jaw 1 of the microgripper and the voltage applied to
strain amplifiers (type: San-ei 6M72) through a bridge box, the the SPCA are shown in Fig. 9. The relationships between the tip
miniforce sensor system achieves a static accuracy of 0.091 N displacement of gripping jaw 1 and the input displacement, as
and a resolution of 0.143 N. In Fig. 8, the installation of the mini- well as the theoretically predicted relationship by (7), are shown
force sensor and the integration of the gripping force sensor and in Fig. 10.
the tip displacement sensor in the assembled microgripper are As shown in Fig. 9, the maximum error between the tip
illustrated. The real-time simulation system is the foundation of displacements measured by the tip displacement sensor and
the developed prototype of the microgripper, and also acts as the LDV is 3.4% (δd = 3.4 %), which indicates that the tip
144 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 18, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2013

Fig. 10. Measured and theoretically predicted relationships between the tip
displacement of gripping jaw 1 of the microgripper and the input displacement. Fig. 11. Measured and theoretically predicted relationships between the
tip displacement of gripping jaw 1 and the input force of the developed
microgripper.

displacement sensor can accurately monitor the tip displace-

ment. In addition, the hysteresis relationships between the tip
displacements and the applied voltage measured by the tip dis-
placement sensor and the LDV are clearly observed in Fig. 9,
which results from the hysteresis of the SPCA. Due to the hys-
teresis of the SPCA, it is difficult to control the tip displacement
and gripping force using the command voltage as the input sig-
nal. However, the control for the tip displacement of the micro-
gripper can be facilitated with high accuracy by the linearization
of the SPCA [35].
As shown in Fig. 10, the measured displacement magnifi-
cation is 16.0× (λ̄ = 16.0) while the theoretically predicted
magnification by (7) is 21.6× (λ = 21.6). The displacement
magnification predicted by (7) is larger than the measured mag-
Fig. 12. Measured and theoretically predicted relationships between the grip-
nification. When establishing (7), the flexure hinges in the MCM ping force and the input force of the developed microgripper.
are approximated to the ideal flexure hinges with only the bend-
ing deformation. However, the flexure hinges will expand and
contract along their axial direction and the rotation center of the squares sense, is shown in Fig. 12. In Fig. 12, the theoretically
flexure hinges will deviate from the ideal position, which results predicted gripping force by (15) and the measured output dis-
in the error of the displacement magnification predicted by (7). placement of the parallelogram mechanism of the MCM are also
According to Fig. 10, the maximum nonlinearity of the mea- shown. In general case, the relationship curve of the gripping
sured relationship curve for the tip displacement versus the input force versus the input force, which is measured in the whole
displacement is 2.6% (γm ax = 2.6%), which indicates that the gripping process, is shown in Fig. 13. In Fig. 13, the theoreti-
relationship is approximately linear and the displacement mag- cally predicted relationship using (13) and the measured output
nification is constant. Considering Fig. 9 and the measured max- displacement of the parallelogram mechanism of the MCM are
imum nonlinearity, it can also be concluded that the hysteresis also presented.
between the tip displacements of gripping jaws 1 and 2 and the Fig. 11 shows the linear relationship between the tip dis-
voltage applied to the SPCA does not affect the linear relation- placement and the input force of the microgripper, where the
ship between the tip displacement and the input displacement measured and theoretically predicted slopes are 32.99 μm/N
of the microgripper. and 30.94 μm/N, respectively. The maximum relative error is
6.21%. Fig. 12 shows the linear relationship between the grip-
ping force and the input force, where the measured and theo-
C. Characteristics of the Gripping Force retically predicted slopes are 44.689 and 44.867, respectively,
The measured relationship curves of the tip displacement ver- which yields the relative error of 0.4%.
sus the input force of the microgripper, as well as the fitted curve According to the experimental observation, the transition
in least-squares sense and theoretically predicted curve by (14), point in the curve of the sensed gripping force in Fig. 13 re-
are shown in Fig. 11. When the microgripper just grips the ma- flects the transition from the nongripping state to the gripping
nipulated object and the input force increases continuously, the state of the microgripper. The transition point in the curve of the
measured gripping force, as well as the fitted curve in least- sensed output displacement occurs when the input force equals
WANG et al.: MONOLITHIC COMPLIANT PIEZOELECTRIC-DRIVEN MICROGRIPPER: DESIGN, MODELING, AND TESTING 145

Fig. 13. Measured and theoretically predicted relationships between the grip-
ping force and the input force and the measured relationship between the output
displacement of the parallelogram mechanism and the input force.

that inducing the transition point in the curve of the sensed grip-
ping force. In these cases, the curves of the sensed gripping
force and output displacement of the parallelogram mechanism
can be divided into two parts: part I and part II, as shown in
Fig. 13. Parts I and II represent the nongripping state and the
gripping state of the microgripper, respectively. Before the mi-
crogripper grips the object, the sensed gripping force equals
zero and the sensed output displacement of the parallelogram
mechanism increases with increasing the input force, as illus-
trated by part I in Fig. 13. After the microgripper grips the
object, both the sensed gripping force and output displacement
of the parallelogram mechanism increase linearly with increas-
ing input force, as illustrated by part II in Fig. 13. However,
the sensed output displacement of the parallelogram mecha-
nism increases more slowly in the gripping state than it does
in the nongripping state. Based on the aforementioned analy- Fig. 14. Movement of the gripping jaws of the microgripper: (a) before grip-
sis, it can be concluded that the gripping force and the output ping the optical fiber and (b) after gripping the optical fiber.
displacement measured by the gripping force sensor system and
tip displacement sensor system reflect the relationships between
the gripping force, output displacement, and input force of the D. Case of Gripping an Optical Fiber
microgripper in the gripping process. In addition, as shown in In order to illustrate that the integrated tip displacement sen-
Fig. 13, the theoretically predicted gripping force tracks well sor and the gripping force sensor can measure the gripping
with the sensed gripping force wholly. However, the transition process accurately, an experiment to grip an optical fiber with
point in the curve of the theoretically predicted gripping force a diameter of 230 μm is presented. The photographs of two
apparently deviates from that in the curve of the sensed gripping states, including the nongripping state and the gripping state,
force, which results in the maximum relative error between the are shown in Fig. 14(a) and (b), respectively. The time histories
sensed and theoretically predicted gripping force of 14%. The of the applied voltage to the microgripper, gripping force, and
theoretically predicted gripping force is obtained by substituting tip displacement of gripping jaw 1 when gripping the optical
the measured gripping force by the developed miniforce sensor fiber are shown in Fig. 15.
as shown in Fig. 7 and the measured output displacement of the As shown in Fig. 14(a) and (b), the gripping jaws of the
parallelogram mechanism by the LDV into (13). The measure- developed microgripper are in parallel before and after grip-
ment errors are amplified in the calculation and the amplified ping the optical fiber, which indicates that the gripping jaws
measurement errors result in the deviation of the transition point move in parallel. Observing Fig. 15, the gripping jaws move
in the curve of the theoretically predicted gripping force from toward each other with increasing applied voltage from 0 V to
that in the curve of the sensed gripping force. In this case, we about 30 V while the gripping force keeps zero, as illustrated
cannot simply make a conclusion that the current model cannot by part I in Fig. 15, which indicates that the gripping jaws have
predict the gripping force in the transition point accurately. not contacted the optical fiber and the gripping jaws are in the
146 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 18, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2013

results could reflect the gripping process accurately; and 3) the

developed microgripper could achieve a displacement magnifi-
cation of 16.0× to realize the large tip displacement with high
resolution, but is also able to possess the parallel movement of
its gripping jaws and the constant displacement magnification.
The theoretical model for the developed microgripper and
the integrated sensors laid the foundation for designing and
developing the control system. The future works will focus on
the realization of the hybrid control of the microgripper with the
feedback of the gripping force and the tip displacement.

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