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Design and development of a low-cost flexure-based hand-held mechanism for

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2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
Kobe International Conference Center
Kobe, Japan, May 12-17, 2009
Design and Development of a Low-cost Flexure-based Hand-held
Mechanism for Micromanipulation
U-Xuan Tan, Win Tun Latt, Cheng Yap Shee, and Wei Tech Ang
Abstract— This paper presents a 3-DOF low-cost hand-held
micromanipulator driven by 3 piezoelectric actuators and built
using rapid prototyping. Traditional pin and ball joints have
been commonly replaced by flexure-based methods in the
field of micromanipulation. Utilization of flexure-based joints
have several advantages like the non-existence of backlash
and assembly errors. However, most of the present flexure-
based mechanisms are bulky and not suitable for hand-held
applications. It is difficult and expensive to make such compact
mechanism using traditional machining methods. In additional,
traditional machining methods are limited to simple design. To
reduce the cost of fabrication and also to allow more complex
designs, Objet (a rapid prototyping machine) is proposed to
be used to build the mechanism. With regards to hand-held
applications, the size of the mechanism is a constraint. Hence, a
parallel manipulator design is the preferred choice as compared
to a serial mechanism because of its rigidity, compactness, and
simplicity in design. For the illustration of an application, the
mechanism is designed with an intraocular needle attached to
it. Possible applications of this design include enhancement
of performance in microsurgery and cell micromanipulation.
Experiments are also conducted to evaluate the manipulator’s
tracking performance of the needle tip at a frequency of 10Hz.
Index Terms— Flexure joints, parallel mechanism, microma-
nipulator, medical robotics, and rapid prototyping.
I. INTRODUCTION
There is a need for manipulators with high accuracy and
rapid response in many applications. Conventional mecha-
nisms with traditional motors, gears and revolute joints are
not able to meet the requirements. Their coarse accuracy is
caused by the existence of backlash and friction between
moving parts. Hence, flexure joints are more popularly used.
Flexure joints have been used in precision instruments like
watches and clocks since many years ago. Ever since the
seminal work of Paros and Weisbord [1], there has been
an increase in usage of flexure-based mechanism in new
applications, such as optical systems and micro-robots, where
precision is of great importance.
Flexure joints offer several significant advantages [2], [3]
and are typically manufactured monolithically. Hence, errors
due to assembly can be avoided. No sliding parts are also
required in flexure-based mechanism. Thus, lubricant is not
needed, making it suitable for applications like medical
This work was supported in part by College of Engineering, Nanyang
Technological University, and in part by Agency for Science, Technology
and Research (A*STAR) SERC grant.
U-X. Tan, W. T. Latt, C. Y. Shee and W. T. Ang are with School of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore {tanu0002, wintunlatt, cyshee, wtang} @
ntu.edu.sg
978-1-4244-2789-5/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE 4350
surgery which require clean and sterile environment. More
importantly, flexure joints generate smooth displacement
without backlash. As long as the flexure joints are not
pushed into their plastic region, the joints are able to produce
predictable and repeatable motions. These advantages make
flexure-based mechanism attractive in applications involving
micro-scale precision motion [4], [5].
One of the desired tools that scientists and doctors want is
a hand-held manipulator. With such manipulators, manipula-
tion by the users can be enhanced by guided motion using
sensors or vision methods. Choi and Riviere [6] designed a
similar tool for tremor cancellation.
In order to meet the hand-held requirement, size is a
concern. Thus, parallel mechanism is preferred over serial
mechanisms because of its compactness. Parallel manipu-
lators also have advantages like no accumulative error and
high rigidity. Tang and Chen [7] proposed an XYZ-flexure
parallel mechanism with large displacement and decoupled
kinematics structure. Dong et al. [5] proposed a wide-ranged
flexure hinge-based parallel manipulator while Yi et al. [8]
focused on XY θZ stages.
However, it is expensive and difficult to make a compact
parallel micromanipulator using traditional machining meth-
ods. Processes like electro-discharge machining (EDM) are
able to produce precise cutting, but the cost is expensive. In
addition, machining methods are limited to simple designs.
Complicated 3-D designs are not allowed as there must be
space available for the cutting tool to reach.
To save cost, rapid-prototyping machine is proposed. In
this paper, Objet is used and the material used is VeroWhite.
The part is built layer by layer. The supports used is a gel-
like material. The gel-like support material can be easily
removed by hand and water. In addition, solvent can be used
to dissolve the support material. Complicated mechanisms
can be easily built and available for use within a day.
This paper presents a 3-DOF low-cost hand-held manipu-
lator for micromanipulation. Section II provides the design
while section III describes how the manipulator is fabricated.
Section IV explains the kinematics and section V shows
the experimental results. Section VI and VII covers the
discussion and conclusion respectively.
II. DESIGN
The proposed hand-held instrument is a 3-DOF manipu-
lator that is driven by 3 piezoelectric actuators. Piezoelectric
actuators are used because of its good resolution, rapid
response and high bandwidth. Fig. 1 shows a photo of the
manipulator. There are two portions. The upper portion is
the mechanism while the lower part houses the piezoelectric
actuators. The two parts are connected via screws. Fig. 2
shows the mechanism while Fig. 3 is the schematic diagram
of the mechanism.
Fig. 1. Photo of the mechanism with actuator holder
Fig. 2. Exploded view of the mechanism
Fig. 3. Schematic Diagram of the Mechanism
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The mechanism used is a parallel mechanism. There are
three limbs connecting the moving platform to the base
platform. Each limb consists of a prismatic joint in series
with a pin joint and a universal joint. The main function
of the prismatic joint is to provide a spring like effect to
keep the actuators in contact with the base. The mechanism
is designed in such a way that the actuator is pre-stressed
when the mechanism is attached to the holder.
The size of the manipulator is small enough for hand-
held purpose. The diameter of the mechanism (excluding the
holder) is 27mm and the height from the mechanism’s base
to the moving platform is 17mm. The diameter of the holder
is 22mm and the height of the holder actually depends on
the length of the actuator, which is dependent on the stroke
length required for the application. In this paper, the height
of the holder is 57mm.
A male luer connector is also built on the moving platform.
A needle is attached to the moving platform via tight fit
with the male luer connector. For a wider range of usage,
the design of the connector can be changed to other type of
connectors accordingly to suit the required tool to be used.
III. FABRICATION
The cost of building the lower and upper part is SGD
$100 Singapore Dollars each, making the total cost to be
SGD$200, which is less than USD$150. Designing the
upper portion (mechanism) for traditional machining will
easily involve more than 20 parts and will cost more than
SGD$2000. In addition, errors due to assembly, backlash
and friction will come into play. Thus, it is proposed that
the mechanism to be built as a single piece using rapid
prototyping. No assembly will be required for the mechanism
portion. In addition, the cost of rapid prototyping is less than
10% of the traditional machining cost.
To save cost, the lower portion is fabricated using tradi-
tional machining. As for the complicated upper portion, Ob-
jet is used to build the part. The material used is VeroWhite.
VeroWhite is jetted onto the build tray in thin layers. The
part is built layer by layer till the whole part is completed.
Each layer is cured by UV light immediately after it is jetted
onto the build tray. This results in a fully cured model and
can be used immediately. No post-curing is required. The
supports that are used in the building is a gel-like material.
The gel-like support material can be easily removed by hand
and water. In addition, certain solvent can be used to dissolve
those support material that cannot be reached by hand. Thus,
complicated mechanism can be easily built and available for
use within a day.
There is one major issue to note when using rapid pro-
totyping machine for flexure-based mechanism. The part is
built layer by layer as shown in Fig. 4 and the side is not very
smooth. As flexure joints involve bending, there is higher
stress concentration on the sides. In addition, the bonding
strength between layers is weaker than the material’s tensile
strength.
To avoid the mechanism failure due to the layers’ issues,
instead of building from the bottom of the mechanism to the
 Therefore, the wrench (reciprocal screws that are recipro-
cal to all) are:
1
W1 = [0 1 0 0 0 0]T
1
W2 = [0 0 0 0 0 1]T
Doing likewise
√ for the other 2 limbs, the wenches are:
2
W1 = [− 3/2 − 1/2 0 0 0 0 0]T
2 T
W2 = [0√0 0 0 0 1]
3
Fig. 4. Part built layer by layer W1 = [ 3/2 − 1/2 0 0 0 0 0]T
3
W2 = [0 0 0 0 0 1]T
The net wrench is thus:
top, the mechanism is built from left to right. The mechanism ⎛ ⎞
0 1 0 0 0 0
is configured to be built in the manner shown in Fig 5. In this ⎜ 0 0 0 1 ⎟
⎜ √0 0 ⎟
way, the stress due to most of the bending will be up taken ⎜ − 3/2 −1/2 0 0 0 0 ⎟
W = ⎜ ⎜
⎟ (2)
up by the material, and not by the bond between layers.
⎜ √0 0 0 0 0 1 ⎟ ⎟
⎝ 3/2 −1/2 0 0 0 0 ⎠
0 0 0 0 0 1
Hence, the degree of freedom is (6-3) = 3. In addition,
it can be seen that the degree of freedom in this particular
state are z, θx and θy .
B. Inverse Kinematics
This section describes the inverse kinematics that is used
to calculate the actuation input. The style on how the inverse
Fig. 5. Orientation of the Mechanism in the Rapid Prototyping Machine kinematics is obtained is similar to what Lee et al. [11]–
[13] proposed, with some modification as the mechanism and
point of interest is slightly different. A schematic diagram
IV. KINEMATICS of the mechanism is shown in Fig. 3. The moving platform,
This section first analyzes the degree of freedom of the {1}, is connected to the base, {0}, by means of an extensible
mechanism. This is followed by the inverse kinematics that link, in series with a pin joint followed by an universal joint.
is used to calculate the required actuation input. The actuators are equally spaced at 120◦ and a radius of r
from the center of the base. Hence, the coordinates of the
A. Degree of Freedom pin joints with respect to {0} are:
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ 1 ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
In this paper, screw theory is used to determine the r −√2
r −√12 r
degree of freedoms. Reciprocal screws are used over Grashof 0
P1 = ⎣ 0 ⎦ ,0 P2 = ⎣ 23 r ⎦ ,0 P3 = ⎣ − 23 r ⎦ (3)
criterion because there are a few similar constrains in the l1 l2 l3
joints of a parallel mechanism. Basics of reciprocal screws
to analyze the mechanism can be found in [9] and [10]. Similarly, the universal joints are equally spaced at a radius
In summary, given a parallel mechanism with m limbs r from the center of the moving platform and the coordinates
and n joints per limb, the net motion twist system is of the universal joints with respect to {1} are:
1 ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ 1 ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
$ ∩ 2 $ ∩ . . . m $ while the net wrench system is r − r −√12 r
1 √2
W  ∪ 2 W  ∪ . . . m W  . Degree of freedom of a parallel 1
U1 = ⎣ 0 ⎦ ,1 U2 = ⎣ 23 r ⎦ ,1 U3 = ⎣ − 23 r ⎦ (4)
mechanism is given by: 0 0 0
= rank[(1 $1 +1 $2 + . . . +1 $n ) ∩ (2 $1 +2 $2 + . . . + The position and orientation of {1} with respect to {0}
2
$n ) ∩ . . . ∩ (m $1 +m $2 + . . . +m $n )] can related by a homogeneous transformation. The transfor-
mation matrix to map {1} to {0} is given by:
= 6 − rank[(1 W1 +1 W2 + . . . +1 Wn ) ∩ (2 W1 + ⎡ ⎤
2
W2 + . . . +2 Wn ) ∩ . . . ∩ (m W1 +m W2 + . . . nx ox ax xc
⎢ ny oy ay yc ⎥
+m Wn )] (1) T01 = ⎢
⎣ nz oz az zc ⎦
⎥ (5)
In this parallel mechanism, there are 3 limbs. For this 0 0 0 1
section, the fix frame is placed at frame {1}’s location. In T T T
where [nx ny nz ] , [ox oy oz ] and [ax ay az ] are the direc-
the first limb, the screws are:
tional cosines vectors. At initialization, the origin of {1} with
$1 = [0 0 0 0 0 1]T
respect to {0} is given by [0 0 zc0 ]T . The length of the link
$2 = [0 1 0 L 0 r]T with r2 = [r 0 − L]T
between the ith pin joint and ith universal joint is
$3 = [1 0 0 0 0 0]T with r3 = [r 0 0]T      
$4 = [0 1 0 0 0 r]T with r4 = [r 0 0]T L = 0 U1 −0 P1  , L = 0 U2 −0 P2  , L = 0 U3 −0 P3  (6)

4352
where L is the length of the link connecting the pin joint And also,
and universal joint. Thus,
2 2
nx − oy = Cα Cγ Cβ − Sα Sγ + Sα Sγ Cβ − Cα Cγ
L2 = (nx r + xc − r) + (ny r + yc ) +
2
= Cα2 Cβ + Sα2 − Sα2 Cβ − Cα2
(nz r + zc − l1 ) (7)
 √ 2 = C2α Cβ − C2α (20)
1
L2 = −nx r + 3ox r + 2xc + r +
4 Hence, respectively from (14) and (11),
1  √ √ 2
−ny r + 3oy r + 2yc − 3r + 1
4 xc = − r(1 − Cβ )C2α (21)
1 √ 2 2
−nz r + 3oz r + 2zc − 2l2 (8) 1
4 yc = r(1 − Cβ )S2α (22)
1  √  2 2
L2 = −nx r − 3ox r + 2xc + r +
4 Hence, xc , yc , γ and the directional cosines vectors can be
1  √ √ 2
−ny r − 3oy r + 2yc + 3r + expressed in terms of α, β and zc . However, the end effector
4 of the micromanipulator is the tip of the needle. Hence, the
1 √ 2
inputs to the inverse kinematics should be [dx dy dz ]T , which
−nz r − 3oz r + 2zc − 2l3 (9)
4 is the desired displacement of the needle’s tip from the initial
The design of the flexure joints, which ideally imposes position. Since
the physical constraints equivalent to pin joints, limit the ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
universal joints to move in the respective planes: dx 0 0
√ √ ⎢ dy ⎥ ⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢ 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
y = 0 , y = − 3x and y = 3x (10) ⎣ dz ⎦ = T01 ⎣ ltip ⎦ − ⎣ zc0 + ltip ⎦ (23)
This means that the position of the universal joints, Ui , 1 1 1
are constrained into these three planes respectively. The
dx , dy and dz can be written as:
constraint equations are thus:
ny r + yc = 0 (11) dx = xc + ltip ax (24)
√ √  √  dy = yc + ltip ay (25)
−ny r+ 3oy r+2yc = − 3 −nx r + 3ox r + 2xc (12)
dz = zc − zc0 + ltip (az − 1) (26)
√ √  √ 
−ny r − 3oy r + 2yc = 3 −nx r − 3ox r + 2xc (13)
By replacing xc , ax , yc and ay with α and β, dx and dy can
By adding (12) with (13) and also substracting (12) from be expressed as:
(13), the constraint equations respectively becomes: 1
dx = − r(1 − Cβ )C2α + Cα Sβ ltip (27)
ny = ox (14) 2
1 1
xc = r(nx − oy ) dy = r(1 − Cβ )S2α + Sα Sβ ltip
2
(15) 2
≈ Sα Sβ ltip ∵ β is small (28)
By expressing the directional cosines in terms of the
famous Z-Y-Z Euler angles (α, β, γ), T01 can be expressed As the range of motion of the manipulator is not big, β is
as:
⎡ ⎤ small and (1 − Cβ ) can be approximated to be zero. Hence,
Cα Cγ Cβ − Sα Sγ −Cα Sγ Cβ − Sα Cγ Cα Sβ xc  
⎢ Sα Cγ Cβ + Cα Sγ −Sα Sγ Cβ + Cα Cγ Sα Sβ yc ⎥ dy
⎢ ⎥ α = tan−1 (29)
⎣ −Cγ Sβ Sγ Sβ Cβ zc ⎦ 
dx

0 0 0 1 dx
β = sin−1 (30)
Thus, Cα ltip
ay where − π2 ≤ α ≤ π2 , − π2 ≤ β ≤ π2 .
α = tan−1 (16)
ax xc , yc , γ can be expressed in terms of α, β and zc using

n2z + o2z (21), (22), and (19) respectively and T01 is in terms of α, β
β = tan−1 (17)
az and γ. In addition, α, β and zc can be calculated using (29),
oz (30) and (26) respectively. Hence, l1 , l2 and l3 can be found
γ = tan−1 (18)
−nz by solving equations (7), (8) and (9) respectively.
In addition, equation (14) becomes:
C. Workspace
Sα Cγ (Cβ + 1) = −Cα Sγ (1 + Cβ )
Using a piezoelectric actuator P885.90 from Physik In-
⇒ tanα = −tanγ
strumente stacked with a P885.50 as the input actuation, the
⇒ α+γ = nπ workspace of the manipulator is shown in Fig. 6, in which
⇒ α = −γ ∵ n = 0 (19) the stroke length for each input is limited to 45m.

4353
 absolute root mean square error can be found along with the
50
root mean square error in the x, y and z axis component.
z (µm)

0 VI. DISCUSSION
200 200
y (µm)0 0 100 The performance of the micromanipulator can be seen
−200 −200 −100 x (µm)
from table I. It can be seen that the absolute root mean
Fig. 6. Workspace of the manipulator square errors for all the trajectories are less than 7μm. These
trajectories were driven at 10Hz with a amplitdue of 85μm.
In other words, the amplitude in the acceleration domain is
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 335.6mm/s2 .
In this section, a brief description of the experiment setup
is first given, followed by the results. The piezoelectric
actuator used for each input is a P885.90 from Physik
z (mm) Meausred
Instrumente stacked with a P885.50. The total stroke length Desired
for each input is about 45μm. The controller used to remove 0.1
the hysteretic effect of the piezoelectric actuators is the one 0.05
that Ang et al. [14] proposed.
0
A. Experiment Setup
−0.05
In this paper, all the displacement readings of the end
effector is measured by system, developed by Win et al. −0.1
[15] using position sensitive devices, with a RMS error of 0.1
0.7 μm. The experiment setup is as shown in Fig. 7. 0.1
0 0.05
y (mm) 0
−0.1 −0.05 x (mm)
−0.1

Fig. 8. 3-D plot of the end effector when driven to draw a circle

0.1
Measured
Desired
Displacement along y−axis (µm)

0.05

−0.05

Fig. 7. Experiment Setup

−0.1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
For measurement purpose, the needle is replace by a rod Time (s)
with a ball attached to the end. The ball is placed such that
Fig. 9. 1-D plot of Fig. 8 in the y-axis component
it is the same as the position of the needle’s tip. The ball is
required to be used to reflect the IR waves to the position 0.08
sensitive devices. 0.06

B. Results 0.04

A number of experiments were conducted to demonstrate 0.02

the performance of the manipulator. The first experiment is Y (mm) 0

to move the end effector in a circular path with a radius of −0.02

85μm at a frequency of 10Hz. Fig. 8 shows the 3-D plot −0.04
of the result while Fig. 9 shows the result in the y-axis
−0.06
component. Next, the end effector is driven to move in a
couple of straight lines of a length of 170μm at a frequency −0.08
−0.08−0.06−0.04−0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08
of 10Hz along y=x, y-axis and x-axis. The result of the X (mm)
trajectory is shown in Fig. 10, 11 and 12 respectively. Table
I summaries the numerical results for all. In this table, the Fig. 10. 2-D plot of the end effector when driven to move along y=x

4354
 joint and the mechanism will not behave like before.
0.08

0.06 VII. CONCLUSION

0.04 This paper presents a 3-DOF low-cost hand-held microma-
0.02 nipulator that is built using a rapid prototyping machine and
Y (mm) 0
driven by piezoelectric actuators. The total cost of building
this prototype is SGD$200 Singapore dollars (less than
−0.02
USD$150). Experiments were also conducted to evaluate the
−0.04 mechanism’s performance. The mechanism was driven at a
−0.06 relatively high frequency of 10 Hz for a couple of different
−0.08 paths. The amplitude of the acceleration is 335.6mm/s2 and
−0.08−0.06−0.04−0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 the root mean square errors for all the different trajectories
X (mm)
were found to be less than 7μm.
Fig. 11. 2-D plot of the end effector when driven to move along y-axis ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
0.08 The authors would like to thank Prof. Chua Chee Kai and
0.06
his Ph.D student, Tan Jia Yong, of Nanyang Technological
University for the usage of their rapid prototyping machine.
0.04

0.02 R EFERENCES
Y (mm) 0 [1] J. M. Paros, and L. Weisbord, “How to Design Flexure Hinges,” Mach.
Des., vol. 37, no. 27, pp.151-156, 1965.
−0.02 [2] L. L. Howell, Compliant Mechanisms, New York: Wiley, 2001.
−0.04 [3] S. Kota, “Compliant systems using monolithic mechanisms,” Smart
Material Bulletin, pp. 7-9, Mar., 2001.
−0.06 [4] B. H. Kang, J. T.-Y. Wen, N. G. Dagalakis, and J. J. Gorman,
“Analysis and Design of Parallel Mechanisms with Flexure Joints,”
−0.08
IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 1179-1185, Dec.,
−0.08−0.06−0.04−0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 2005.
X (mm)
[5] W. Dong, Z. J. Du, and L. N. Sun, “Conceptional Design and
Kinematics Modeling of a Wide-Range Flexure Hinge-Based Parallel
Fig. 12. 2-D plot of the end effector when driven to move along x-axis Manipulator,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Au-
tomation, Barcelona, Spain, April, 2005.
TABLE I [6] D. Y. Choi, and C. N. Riviere, “Flexure-based Manipulator for
Active Handheld Microsurgical Instrument,” 27th Annual International
E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
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(EMBS), pp. 2325 - 2328, Shanghai, China, Sept., 2005.
Type of Motion x rmse y rmse z rmse rmse [7] X. Y. Tang, and I-M. Chen, “A Large-Displacement 3-DOF Flexure
Parallel Mechanism with Decoupled Kinematics Structure,” IEEE/RSJ
circle 4.5061 4.9720 1.6137 6.9014 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 1668-
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no. 4, pp. 604-612, Aug., 2003.
straight line along y=x 4.2612 4.3842 0.9994 6.1950 [9] L. W. Tsai, “The Jacobian Analysis of a Parallel Manipulator Using
This table summarizes the experimental results. All the readings are in Reciprocal Screws,” Institute for System Research Technical Research
μm. All the motions are driven at 10Hz with an amplitude of 85μm Report, T.R.98-34, 1998.
(170μm peak-peak). The data are collect over 2.5 sec. x rmse, y rmse and [10] L. W. Tsai, Robot Analysis- The Mechanics of Serial and Parallel
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& Automation, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 354-360, 1988.
[12] K. M. Lee, and D. K. Shah, “Dynamic Analysis of a Three-Degrees-of-
One major disadvantage of using rapid prototyping is its Freedom In-Parallel Actuated Manipulator,” IEEE Journal of Robotics
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[13] K. M. Lee, and S. Arjunan, “A Three-Degrees-of-Freedom Micromo-
Modeling of the mechanism is important for close loop tion In-Parallel Actuated Manipulator,” IEEE Transaction on Robotics
control. However, as the dimension is not that accurate, the & Automation, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 634-641, Oct., 1991.
model of the mechanism that is obtained through theoretical [14] W. T. Ang, C. N. Riviere, and P. K. Khosla, “Feedforward Con-
troller With Inverse Rate-Dependent Model for Piezoelectric Actuators
calculations does not fit the actual mechanism well. In ad- in Trajectory-Tracking Applications,” IEEE/ASME Transactions on
dition, the mechanism is built layer by layer. The properties Mechatronics, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 1-8, April, 2007.
of the material is not isotropic and same throughout. This [15] T. L. Win, U. X. Tan, C. Y. Shee, and W. T. Ang, “Design and
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makes modeling of the mechanism even more challenging. manipulation tasks,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Another precaution is that the actuations must not be large Automation, pp. 3383-3388, Roma, Italy, April, 2007.
till the flexure joints reaches the material’s plastic region.
The consequence is the permanent deformation of the flexure

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