Devices and Techniques for Contact Microgripping

The gripping and manipulation of microparts significantly differs from
the handling and assembly of macroscopic components. In the macroworld gravity
dominates, whereas in the microdomain, it becomes negligible, and superficial
forces dominate pick and place operations. Releasing a part from the grasp of a
microgripper is not a simple task as the part may stick to the gripper due to the
presence of these adhesive forces. For this reason, beside the numerous attempts of
downscaling traditional grippers also innovative actuation strategies have been
proposed. The chapter critically reviews some of the most widely used microma-
nipulation techniques with contact, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages
and describing some innovative solutions based on capillary forces.