Controlled rolling of microobjects for autonomous manipulation

Abstract

This paper presents our work in developing an autonomous micromanipulation system. The originality of our system is that it takes advantage of adhesion forces to grip micro-objects using an AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) probe. A theoretical analysis of rolling conditions is carried out in order to achieve precise release of an object picked-up by adhesion. Vision control, based on the specificities of optical microscopy, and force control, based on the analysis of the AFM probe, are established. Experiments validate the employed techniques and the proposed manipulation mode.

Laser-Induced Thermocapillary Convection for Mesoscale Manipulation

“…Such applications are beyond the limits of pick-and-place techniques, such as microgrippers (Millet et al 2004) and cantilevers (Haliyo et al 2006), because at this scale they become too time-consuming. There are also significant difficulties for manipulation due to the dominant effect of surface forces (Lambert and Régnier 2006), and there is a high risk of sample contamination.…”

Non-contact mesoscale manipulation using laser induced convection flows

“…Many devices exist and are dedicated to one type of object and applications either with direct contact like grippers [1] and cantilevers [2], or without contact like electrophoresis [3], magnetic [4], optical tweezers [5], [6] and microfluidic systems [7]. Many different tools are needed because of scale effects: objects from a few nm to a few mm undergo different interactions.…”

Micro-Force sensor by active control of a comb-drive

“…In nanotechnologies, measurement of adhesion forces is required for experimental validation of different models for micro objects interactions, like model of adhesion developed in [2]. In microscale manipulation, those interaction forces affect greatly gripping and assembly strategies [3], [4].…”