An integrated and compact device for microassembly exploiting electrostatic sorting and capillary grasping

Assembly of microproducts needs automatic and reliable devices to reduce assembly time and cost. Handling tasks are problematic because adhesion forces become predominant over gravity and microparts stick to each other. In this paper a compact device integrating an electrostatic sorter and a capillary gripper is proposed to tackle the main handling issues, such as sorting, grasping and releasing. The device allows a random group of microparts to be positioned individually in the final location. Metallic and glass microspheres of diameter 0.6–1.2 mm are managed with a percentage higher than 60%. Material and dimension of microparts highly affect the sorting reliabilities. The time required for handling 23 microspheres is 77.5 s.