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A compliant electrostatic gripper with bipolar voltage polarity for a pick-and-place manipulation is presented. The compliance, realized by the introduction of an array of micropillars which act as the electrode, extends the application of electrostatic-based gripper to manipulating fragile, rough-surfaced dielectric objects at macro scale. A prototype consisting of two arrays is developed by a chemical etching process. The experimental force is then compared with the theoretical force obtained from a simulation, showing a discrepancy between them. The sources of the discrepancy are analyzed to provide design insight for force improvement. To assess the reliability, the prototype is used for a manipulation demonstration of flat-surfaced paper. The result shows a good repeatability, and the necessary pick-up condition is confirmed. Subsequently, as the proof of the concept, another pick-up for rough-surfaced objects represented by a tissue paper with different roughness condition is also demonstrated. The effect of the rough surfaces to the generated forces is qualitatively discussed.

A 3D-printed-layered structure for forming the compliant bipolar electrostatic gripper is proposed. A prototype gripper module, which consists of an array of elastically deformable bipolar micro-probes, is fabricated using a conventional 3D printer. Experiments are conducted to examine the attractive force and the pick-and-place performance of the prototype. Experimental results show that the prototype module can generate the maximum attractive pressure of 87.1 Pa, which can pick and hold a piece of xerographic paper of 31.2 mg successfully. The effects of residual charges and the probe-tips flattening process on the attractive force are also discussed.

A model with surface conductivity and adhesional force is proposed to investigate the mechanism for electrostatic micro manipulation of a dielectric object using a single probe. The manipulation system consists of three elements: a conductive probe as a manipulator, a conductive plate as a substrate, and a dielectric particle as the target object for manipulation. The particle can be successfully picked up/placed if a rectangular pulse voltage is applied between the probe and the plate. The reliability of the picking up/placing operation is improved by applying a pulse voltage that is determined by a theoretical model considering surface conductivity and adhesion. To verify the theoretical prediction, manipulation experiment is conducted using soda-lime glass particles with radii of 20 μm and 40 μm.

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