Thin flexible end-effector using pneumatic balloon actuator

A pneumatic balloon is applied to actuate a thin flexible end-effector. The pneumatic balloon actuator (hereafter PEA) is fabricated on a cantilever for the flexible end-effector. The end-effector bends when the pneumatic balloon swells. Static and dynamic characterizations on PEA confirm that PEA provide large displacements, high forces, and flexible structures, in order to demonstrate cooperative performance of PEA, a ciliary motion conveyance system is composed of distributed end-effecters. A manipulation of a glass plate by the developed system is successfully operated. Increasing degrees of freedom of the end-effector is also tried to perform more complicated motion. In addition, a few trials aiming to implement micro PEA arrays have been estimated through prototyping. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.