Design of a New Bio-Inspired Dual-Axis Compliant Micromanipulator with Millimeter Strokes

This paper proposes the concept design of a novel bio-inspired dual-axis compliant micromanipulator with millimeter working strokes dedicated to fiber alignment. It subtly mimics the gripping and rubbing function of the hu- man hand consisting of the forefinger, purlicue, and thumb. Compared with traditional dual-axis grippers, its advantages lie in millimeter-level stroke, bi-directional rotation, less slippage, and comprehensive force sensing. To achieve dexterous and reliable manipulation, a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) flexible decoupling mechanism and a displacement reversing mecha- nism based on the leaf-shaped flexible hinge are introduced. A prototype driven by two voice coil motors is fabricated for experimental testing. Three high-precision strain gauges with temperature compensation are glued on the sensitive region to measure the gripping force and rubbing force. Experimental results show that the gripping and rubbing strokes of the manipulator are up to 2.3 mm and 2.1 mm, respectively. For a custom-made fiber flag with a diameter of 200 μm, the rotation stroke of more than 1000◦has been achieved, which cannot be realized by previous work with the same level of compact mechanism design.