Research on Multi-fingered Flexible Micro Hand driven by Electro-conjugate Fluid Jet

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This study aims to develop a novel multi-fingered flexible micro hand suitable for handling a miniature soft object. We introduce an electro-conjugate fluid (ECF), which generates a powerful jet flow when subjected to high DC voltage, to drive a flexible micro finger with no mechanically moving part. Arranging several micro fingers, we can easily construct a multi-fingered flexible micro hand.First, we developed an ECF micro manipulator. This manipulator mainly consists of a curved silicone rubber tube with diameter of 1 mm, and an ECF jet generator which has a needle-ring electrode pair inside. By applying a DC voltage to the electrode pair, an ECF jet is generated resulting in increasing the inner pressure of the silicone rubber tube. Then, the tube deforms from a curve shape to straight. The experimental result shows 1 mm displacement at the tube tip. We obtained know-how for developing a miniature silicone rubber tube etc. from this development.Next, we developed a flexible micro finger using electro-conjugate fluid. This finger consists of a 4 m diameter silicone rubber tube, which has three fan-lie rooms with center angle of 120° along its axis, and an ECF jet generator having three needle-ring electrode pairs inside. By selectively applying a DC voltage to electrode pairs, one/two rooms are pressurized resulting in making the finger bend. The maximum displacement and forge generated at the tip of finger are 7.2 mm and 0.9 mN, respectively.