Development and Hybrid Position/Force Control of a Dual-Drive Macro-Fiber-Composite Microgripper

Abstract

This paper reports on the development, implementation and hybrid control of a new micro-fiber-composite microgripper with synchronous position and force control capabilities. In particular, the micro-fiber-composite actuator was composed of rectangular piezoelectric fibers covered by interdigitated electrodes and embedded in structural epoxy. Thus, the micro-fiber-composite microgripper had a larger displacement-volume ratio (i.e., the ratio of the output displacement to the volume of the microgripper) than that of a traditional piezoelectric one. Moreover, to regulate both the gripper position and the gripping force simultaneously, a hybrid position/force control scheme using fuzzy sliding mode control and the proportional-integral controller was developed. In particular, the fuzzy sliding mode control was used to achieve the precision position control under the influence of the system disturbances and uncertainties, and the proportional-integral controller was used to guarantee the force control accuracy of the microgripper. A series of experimental investigations was performed to verify the feasibility of the developed microgripper and the control scheme. The experimental results validated the effectiveness of the designed microgripper and hybrid control scheme. The developed microgripper was capable of precision and multiscale micromanipulation tasks.

A Machine Learning Empowered Shape Memory Alloy Gripper With Displacement-Force-Stiffness Self-Sensing

“…For sensing methods, sensing grippers are divided into the following: 1) Gripper sensing via external sensors. Zhang et al [2] reported a microgripper for position/force sensing using a laser displacement sensor. Rakotondrabe and Ivan [3] proposed a thermal-piezoelectric microgripper with an optical displacement sensor to measure the displacement.…”

Control System for Multi-Input and Simple-Output Piezoelectric Beam Actuator Based on Macro Fiber Composite

“…A selection of the A/D boards is not dependent on the kind of used piezoelectric material, so A/D boards are the same for the actuators based on PZT and actuators based on MFC. Control algorithms used for actuators based on PZT are also used for the actuators based on MFC: algorithms based on a linear function, e.g., PID [18], algorithms based on a state space, e.g., LQR [15], algorithms based on fuzzy functions, e.g., [19] and algorithms based on genetic methods, e.g., [20].…”

A novel piezoelectric-actuated microgripper simultaneously integrated microassembly force, gripping force and jaw-displacement sensors: design, simulation and experimental investigation

“…In addition, most of microparts required by these technologies have complex threedimensional (3D) geometric structure and are made of different materials, and microassembly technology is also an important means to realize the manufacture of heterogeneous non-silicon microsystems [10]. Microgripper is end-effector of microassembly robot and is in direct contact with gripped microparts, so the research of microgripper is critical for microassembly technology and microassembly robot technology [11][12][13][14][15]. As a typical end-effector, microgrippers have good application prospect in the fields of micropart machining [16], microassembly [17] and bioengineering [18].…”