Design and control of 2 degree-of-freedom air jet array for manipulating flat objects

Part handlings based on solid-to-solid contacts such as pick-and-place with a gripper or transporting by a conveyor belt are very common in automation systems. In case of handling frasile or flexible objects, it is required to manipulate an object without using direct solid-to-solid contact between the object and a tool. We introduce an air-jet table that can manipulate a flat object by changing the directions of air injection. Experimental results show that the two degree of-freedom air table successfully manipulate flat objects.