A review on actuation and sensing techniques for MEMS-based microgrippers

Abstract

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) reveals excellent flexibility and adaptability in miniaturization devices owing to its compact dimension, low power consumption, and fine performance. As a typical type of miniaturization tool, MEMS-based robotic microgripper has been widely employed in the manipulation of tiny micro-objects, material characterizations, and so on. This paper presents the state-of-the-art survey of prevalent MEMS-based actuation and sensing techniques, which can be applied in microgrippers. Five main types of actuators are reviewed in this survey, namely, electro-thermal actuators, electrostatic actuators, shape memory alloy actuators, piezoelectric actuators, and electromagnetic actuators. A review of recent sensing techniques is also conducted, which includes four popular sensing approaches in terms of capacitive sensors, electrothermal sensors, piezoresistive sensors, and piezoelectric sensors. Their advantages, disadvantages, and applications have been discussed in detail. Some perspectives on the future development are presented.

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