Kick & Catch: Coaction of an electrostatic kick and magnetic catch system for the rotation of a sphere

This paper shows the design, fabrication, and characterization of an electrostatic microactuator that tilts a freely supported sphere in a contactless phase. The rotation is initiated by a pull-in of a mechanical lever. The sphere can be deflected in any direction and at any angle. To keep the sphere in a rest position and to reduce oscillations after the flight phase, a magnetic force is used that acts comparable to a virtual spring between actuator and sphere. The usability of the experimental results for active damping is demonstrated in simulation.