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 f or the flexible end-effector. The end-effector bends when the pneumatic bal loon swells. Static and dynamic characterizations on PEA confirm that PEA p rovide 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 mo tion. In addition, a few trials aiming to implement micro PEA arrays have b een estimated through prototyping. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All right s reserved.