Development of a new noncontact gripper using swirl vanes

► We proposed a new noncontact handling gripper called as swirl gripper. ► The swirl gripper generates swirling air flow to create an upward lifting force by using a set of swirl vanes. ► There exists a levitation zone in which a work piece can maintain a stable levitation. ► We verified the practicability by successfully noncontact handling a Φ300 mm silicon wafer with four swirl grippers.