Ultrasonic and Electrostatic Self-Cleaning Microstructured Adhesives for Robotic Grippers
Vahid Alizadehyazdi, Elizabeth McQueney, Koki Tanaka, Matthew Spenko
Abstract
This paper introduces electrostatic and ultrasonic techniques to clean dust and other contaminants from the surface of a gecko-like, microstrutured adhesive. The result is a non-destructive, non-contact cleaning method that will afford robotic grippers, climbing robots, and perching robots the ability to operate in real-world environments. Experimental results show that the cleaning efficiency for three different sizes of glass beads, 53-75 μm, 75-90 μm, and 90-106 μm, ranges between 75-99% when using a combination of electrostatic and ultrasonic cleaning. This is a far higher efficiency than when using electrostatic repulsion alone. Experiments also demonstrate an approximately 33% recovery in shear stress on a flat glass for a contaminated directional gecko-like adhesive after contact with a dusty table when electrostatic/ultrasonic cleaning was used. Finally, by applying this method on a robotic gripper, we observed an 18% recovery in normal adhesion on a flat glass substrate.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{iros2018_ultrasonicandele,
title = {Ultrasonic and Electrostatic Self-Cleaning Microstructured Adhesives for Robotic Grippers},
author = {Vahid Alizadehyazdi and Elizabeth McQueney and Koki Tanaka and Matthew Spenko},
booktitle = {IROS 2018},
year = {2018}
}