Study and development of a station for manipulation tasks in the microworld

摘要

Abstract: This paper deals with a work in progress concerning the development of a station for micromanipulation tasks in the air (at present not in a liquid environment). A microgripper is developed, based on piezoelectric unimorphs and bimorphs. This microgripper allows to manipulate micro-objects from several microns to several hundreds of microns in diameter. In the future the microgripper will be controlled in position and force. The first results in position control of our piezoelectric unimorph actuators show an accuracy better than 10 nm at the tip of the actuator. A low cost XY-table is also developed using SMA wires to create relative motions between the microgripper and the manipulated object. For the manipulation of smaller objects, from several hundreds of nanometers to some micrometers, a work is also in progress to develop a micromanipulation station based on an AFM microscope head connected to a simple force-feedback haptic. Moreover, based on some studied microactuators for micromanipulation, an insect-like microrobot with legs is under development. The design of legs is realized using the microactuators previously described. We are now in order to test these legs and consider the whole mechanical structure of the microrobot.!12