Modeling and Design of a Piezoelectric Forceps Actuator for Meso∕Micro Grasping

Abstract

Meso∕micro grasping of tiny soft objects such as biological tissues, which ranges from hundreds to thousands of micro-millimeters in dimension, plays a significant role in the fields of tele-surgery, minimally invasive surgery (MIS), and biomedical instrumentation. Recently, the authors proposed a novel piezoelectric forceps actuator (PFA), which is capable of grasping delicate soft objects. One of the advantages of the PFA over conventional MIS forceps lies in that it can be remotely controlled to achieve precision deflection and grasping force. Furthermore, it does not have any moving parts such as gears and hinges, and hence avoids problems in operation like friction, backlash, lubrication, leakage, and sterilization. In this paper, a mathematical model of the PFA is derived, based on which genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to optimize the grasping force-deflection relationship of the actuator. The model developed is experimentally verified on a prototype of the PFA.