Design and Experimentation of a Micro-gripper with Force Sensing

A micro-gripper with force sensing is designed,and clamping motion is realized through piezoelectric ceramic stack actuation and flexible-hinge enlargement.Wheatstone bridge consisting of semiconductor strain-gauge stuck on the strain cantilever is used to measure the micro-clamping force.The structure of the flexible-hinge is optimized,and simulation analysis on the strain cantilever is carded out.Finally,the micro-gripper is fabricated and assembled,and calibration ex- periment of force sensing and micro-gripper operation experiment are carried out.Results from fabrication and experiments testify the feasibility and practicability of the presented micro-gripper with clamping force sensing.