In order to support undergraduate projects, a number of COMSOL Multiphysics simulations have been created to determine the accuracy of experimental results. The two main projects this year centre around the thickness of the top SU8 layer and the impact of it on the moving speed of the device, and on the manual deflection of the arms and the associated stresses within the arm. Here’s a quick animation created in COMSOL showing an arm being deflected (please click on the image for the animation to start).
This simulation was created by applying a deflection in the z direction to the end of the gripper arm, which may result in the arm being stretched, therefore a more realistic approach was sought, in the form of an applied load to the end of the arm:
As can be seen, the difference appears to be minimal, however, the y component of the displacement is indeed fixed for a set z deflection. By comparison, when applying a mass, the y deflection varies by 11 microns.
More information on the other project to follow!
Dr Linzi E. Amers-Dodd 