Controlled cilia for object manipulation
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorDonald L. Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Controlled cilia are provided to move an object. Each of the cilia, which are made of an elastic material, are fixed over a substrate and moved between a relaxed position away from the substrate and a retracted position near the substrate to move an object relative to the substrate. The cilia are moved between the relaxed and retracted positions by an electrostatic force or heating of the cilia. The cilia are formed from a material that is initially fixed to a substrate and has an inherent stress gradient. A portion of the material is released from the substrate and the inherent stress gradient forces a free portion of the cilia away from the substrate.
Claims18
A locomotion device comprising:
- a substrate;
- a finger having a free portion and an anchor portion fixed over the substrate, the free portion moving between a first position near the substrate and a second position away from the substrate and engaging with an object positioned opposite the substrate to move the object relative to the substrate;
- and
- a controller that provides a control signal to cause the free portion to move between the first and second positions.
A locomotion device comprising:
- a substrate;
- fingers arranged in at least two sub-arrays, each finger having a free portion connected to an anchor portion that is fixed over the substrate, the free portion moving between a first position near the substrate and a second position away from the substrate to engage with and move an object relative to the substrate;
- and
- a controller that provides a control signal that causes the fingers in each sub-array to selectively move between the first and second positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.