Micro-Parts Feeding by a Saw-tooth Surface

Abstract— This paper examines the novel use of a sawtooth surface with simple planar and symmetric vibration for unidirectional micro-parts feeding. In micro-parts feeding, to drive the micro-parts in one direction, the driving force applied to each micro-part must vary according to the direction of motion of the micro-part. In the case of a saw-tooth surface, either the point or the slope of the saw-tooth can make contact with a micro-part. Micro-parts move in one direction by the driving force according to the contact between the micro-parts and the saw-tooth surface. Feeding experiments show that uniditectional feeding is achieved by the proposed method. The driving force at each contact and the dynamics of micro-parts with adhesion force were formulated for the feeding simulations. Regarding the elevation angle at which the velocity was maximum, there was good agreement between the simulation with adhesion force and the experiments.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: ICRA
• Authors: Atsushi Mitani, Naoto Sugano, Shinichi Hirai
• Keywords: Adhesion Force, Driving Force, ICRA 2005, Robotics, Saw-tooth Surface