A Study for Two Microgrippers with Integrated Piezoresistive Force/Displacement Sensors

This paper presents the design, simulation, manufacturing and characterization of two SU-8 polymeric microgrippers with one active arm. The microgrippers were designed with V-shaped electro-thermal actuators and integrated with piezoresistive force/displacement sensors for micromanipulation applications. Numerical simulations were performed in order to evaluate the behavior of the actuator and the sensitivity of the sensors as force sensor. A comparison between the simulation results and the measurements were presented concerning the openings of the microgrippers tips. The sensitivity of the piezoresistive sensors using the electrical response of the sensors as function of displacement was numerically simulated and compared to the experimental data.