Ultrasonic and Electrostatic Self-Cleaning Microstructured Adhesives for Robotic Grippers

This paper introduces electrostatic and ultrasonic techniques to clean dust and other contaminants from the surface of a gecko-like, microstrutured adhesive. The result is a non-destructive, non-contact cleaning method that will afford robotic grippers, climbing robots, and perching robots the ability to operate in real-world environments. Experimental results show that the cleaning efficiency for three different sizes of glass beads, 53-75 μm, 75-90 μm, and 90-106 μm, ranges between 75-99% when using a combination of electrostatic and ultrasonic cleaning. This is a far higher efficiency than when using electrostatic repulsion alone. Experiments also demonstrate an approximately 33% recovery in shear stress on a flat glass for a contaminated directional gecko-like adhesive after contact with a dusty table when electrostatic/ultrasonic cleaning was used. Finally, by applying this method on a robotic gripper, we observed an 18% recovery in normal adhesion on a flat glass substrate.