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.