Microgrippers and their influence on high precision assembly processes

Microgrippers have their roots in macrogrippers, with many of the first microgrippers being scaled down versions of their larger counterparts. Although similar, with the smaller handled parts comes a different set of requirements. After presenting an overview of these requirements, different microgrippers are presented. Of these, a more detailed discussion of mechanical, vacuum, electrostatic, capillary, and freezing microgripping technologies is presented. In the last portion of this chapter, three different microgrippers will be used for the same microassembly task. Within these examples, it is shown how gripper design plays a large role in obtaining the required assembly tolerances. In one example, the gripper design is modified to improve the available information about the assembly scene, allowing an improvement in the resulting assembly uncertainty. In a further example, hot melt adhesives are used with both passive and active microgripping solutions. Through these examples, it is shown how gripper design is an important part in improving the assembly uncertainty within microassembly.