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A survey of non-prehensile pneumatic manipulation surfaces: principles, models and control

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Abstract

Many manipulation systems using air flow have been proposed for object handling in a non-prehensile way and without solid-to-solid contact. Potential applications include high-speed transport of fragile and clean products and high-resolution positioning of thin delicate objects. This paper discusses a comprehensive survey of state-of-the-art pneumatic manipulation from the macro scale to the micro scale. The working principles and actuation methods of previously developed air-bearing surfaces, ultra-sonic bearing surfaces, air-flow manipulators, air-film manipulators, and tilted air-jet manipulators are reviewed with a particular emphasis on the modeling and the control issues. The performance of the previously developed devices are compared quantitatively and open problems in pneumatic manipulation are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Newway Air Bearings, Aston, USA, http://www.newwayairbearings.com/.

  2. Portec, Aadorf, Switzerland, http://www.portec.ch/.

  3. ZS-Handling, Regensburg, Germany, http://www.zs-handling.com/.

Abbreviations

\(\alpha \) :

Object orientation

\(\lambda \) :

Surface flow

\(\mu \) :

Dynamic viscosity of air

\(\rho \) :

Air density

\(\theta \) :

Inclination angle of the nozzles from the vertical

A :

Cross-sectional area of the object

a :

Section area of a nozzle

\(C_\mathrm{D}\) :

Drag coefficient

\(C_\mathrm{F}\) :

Friction coefficient

\(C_\mathrm{P}\) :

Propulsive force coefficient

\(F_\mathrm{D}\) :

Drag force

\(F_\mathrm{L}\) :

Lifting force

\(F_\mathrm{P}\) :

Propulsive force

h :

Levitation height

M :

Propulsive moment

m :

Object mass

n :

Number of sinks or air-jets

p :

Pressure beneath the object

\(q_{e}\) :

Volume rate flowing through a nozzle

S :

Under surface area of the object

T :

Transmission matrix

U :

Horizontal velocity field of the flow over the surface

\(U_{e}\) :

Exit speed of air in nozzle

V :

Object speed along direction X

x :

Object position along direction X

y :

Object position along direction Y

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in France by the Smart Blocks project (ANR-251-2011-BS03-005), by Labex ACTION Project (ANR-11-LABX-01-01) and by Région de Franche-Comté, and in Korea by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (2013R1A1A2013636). Hyungpil Moon was a recipient of Erasmus Mundus scholarships recommended by Prof. Nadine Le Fort-Piat at ENSMM, France.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. FEMTO-ST Institute, Automation and Micro-Mechatronics Systems Department UMR CNRS 6174, ENSMM, Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France

    Guillaume J. Laurent

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoburo 2066, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

    Hyungpil Moon

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  1. Guillaume J. Laurent
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Correspondence to Hyungpil Moon.

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Laurent, G.J., Moon, H. A survey of non-prehensile pneumatic manipulation surfaces: principles, models and control. Intel Serv Robotics 8, 151–163 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11370-015-0175-0

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