Design and Simulation of A Novel Three-Dimensional Multi-Degree-Of-Freedom Electrothermal Microgripper

This paper presents a novel design of a three-dimensional (3D) multi- degree-of-freedom (MDOF), electrothermal microgripper. The 3D microgripper is made up of three identical fingers, each of which has three degrees-of- freedoms (DOFs) and stands on a rotational platform actuated by one pair of V-shaped electrothermal actuators. Each finger is composed of a V-shaped and a novel 3D U-shaped electrothermal actuator, independently providing one longitudinal and two transverse DOFs, respectively. The 3D U-shaped electrothermal actuator proposed in this paper can generate displacement and force on the end tip based on elongation and bending of a pair of slender beams. Functionality and performance analyses of the proposed 3D finger are performed based on finite-element simulations.