Microscale soft-robots hold great promise as safe handlers of delicate micro-objects but their wider adoption requires micro-actuators with greater efficiency and ease-of-fabrication. Here we present an elastomeric microtube-based pneumatic actuator that can be extended into a microrobotic tentacle. We establish a new, direct peeling-based technique for building long and thin, highly deformable...

This paper describes a dynamical strategy for releasing micro objects picked-up by means of adhesion forces. While sticking effects are used in order to capture an object by adequately choosing a high surface energy constitutive material for the end-effector, these same effects handicap considerably the release. We propose to take advantage of the inertial effects of both the end-effector and t...

Inductive micro-switch is an integrative device of a sensor and actuator and widely applied in all-opticalnetwork communication. Its malfunctions related to “fail-to-closure” and “transient-closure” result in low reliability and weak anti-jamming capability. A new bistable inductive micro-switch is presented based on micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology. A sine rough surface model ...

In this article the control problem of a micro-actuator (μ − A) is considered. The μ − A is composed of a micro-capacitor, whose one plate is clamped while its other flexible plate’s motion is constrained by hinges acting as a combination of springs and dashpots. The distance of the plates is varied by the applied voltage between them. The flexibility of the moving plate coupled to the dynamics...

An innovative magnetically levitated system design is presented in this paper. The proof mass, used as the seismic detection components for gyroscopes, is levitated by the presented micro-coil actuator so that the concerns that mechanical fatigue, asymmetry and misalignments, which are inevitably present in the traditional mechanical springs design, can be ruled out. In addition, the limited ra...