Development of Miniature Gripper Using Mechanism of Displacement Magnification of Long Column.

This study considered the development of the gripper mechanism for a micro-manipulator. In the development, it was aimed at the formation which consists of the mechanism as simple as possible, especially as for the mechanism of displacement magnification by applying the buckling phenomenon of long column. For this purpose, a phosphor bronze plate for springs like a strip of paper was bent to shape into the form of a character M, which central bottom part with the form of a character V is pulled to drive by screw mechanism. As a result, a prototype of gripper mechanism has been fabricated by which mechanism closing amount of the finger tip to a stroke of pull is easily magnified approximately 15 times. Thus, this gripper mechanism does not need the special mechanism for the magnification of displacement, it will be able to progress the further miniaturization in the near future.