L. Bruzzone and G. Bozzini (Italy)
Finite Element Modelling, flexible mechanisms, microrobotics
Flexible mechanisms are often used in robotics to realize miniaturized grippers. During the design phase, it is necessary to evaluate the compliance of the flexible mechanism, which is directly related to the gripping force and to the necessary actuation force. If the mechanism flexibility is lumped, the assessment of the elastic return force can be performed by analytical methods or by finite element analysis; in this case, the mesh accuracy can be easily defined on the basis of the geometry of the flexure joints. On the contrary, if the flexibility is distributed along mechanism, only the FEM approach is expedient, and the definition of the mesh accuracy is more critical; in this paper, the mesh generation is studied in order to obtain a good compromise between accuracy of the results and model complexity, with reference to different versions of a miniaturized fingertip.
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