Automated Micromanipulation of Micro Objects

In recent years, research efforts in the development of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, (MEMS) including microactuators and micromanipulators, have attracted a great deal of attention. The development of microfabrication techniques has resulted in substantial progress in the miniaturization of devices such as electronic circuits. However, the research in MEMS still lags behind in terms of the development of reliable tools for post-fabrication processes and the precise and dexterous manipulation of individual micro size objects. Current micromanipulation mechanisms are prone to high costs, a large footprint, and poor dexterity and are labour intensive. To overcome such, the research in this thesis is focused on the utilization of microactuators in micromanipulation. Microactuators are compliant structures. They undergo substantial deflection during micromanipulation due to the considerable surface micro forces. Their dominance in governing micromanipulation is so compelling that their effects should be considered in designing microactuators and microsensors. In this thesis, the characterization of the surface micro forces and automated micromanipulation are investigated. An inexpensive experimental setup is proposed as a platform to replace Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for analyzing the force characterization of micro scale components. The relationship between the magnitudes of the surface micro forces and the parameters such as the velocity of the pushing process, relative humidity, temperature, hydrophilicity of the substrate, and surface area are empirically examined. In addition, a precision automated micromanipulation system is realized. A class of artificial neural networks (NN) is devised to estimate the unmodelled micro forces during the controlled pushing of micro size object along a desired path. Then, a nonlinear controller is developed for the controlled pushing of the micro objects to guarantee the stability of the closed loop system in the Lyapunov sense. To validate the performance of the proposed controller, an experimental setup is designed. The application of the proposed controller is extended to precisely push several micro objects, each with different characteristics in terms of the surface micro forces governing the manipulation process. The proposed adaptive controller is capable of learning to adjust its weights effectively when the surface micro forces change under varying conditions. By using the controller, a fully automated sequential positioning of three micro objects on a flat substrate is performed. The results are compared with those of the identical sequential pushing by using a conventional linear controller. The results suggest that artificial NNs are a promising tool for the design of adaptive controllers to accurately perform the automated manipulation of multiple objects in the microscopic scale for microassembly

Advanced Strategies for Robot Manipulators

Amongst the robotic systems, robot manipulators have proven themselves to be of increasing importance and are widely adopted to substitute for human in repetitive and/or hazardous tasks. Modern manipulators are designed complicatedly and need to do more precise, crucial and critical tasks. So, the simple traditional control methods cannot be efficient, and advanced control strategies with considering special constraints are needed to establish. In spite of the fact that groundbreaking researches have been carried out in this realm until now, there are still many novel aspects which have to be explored

NASA SBIR abstracts of 1991 phase 1 projects

The objectives of 301 projects placed under contract by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are described. These projects were selected competitively from among proposals submitted to NASA in response to the 1991 SBIR Program Solicitation. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 301, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference of the 1991 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA Field Center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number are included

Robotics 2010

Without a doubt, robotics has made an incredible progress over the last decades. The vision of developing, designing and creating technical systems that help humans to achieve hard and complex tasks, has intelligently led to an incredible variety of solutions. There are barely technical fields that could exhibit more interdisciplinary interconnections like robotics. This fact is generated by highly complex challenges imposed by robotic systems, especially the requirement on intelligent and autonomous operation. This book tries to give an insight into the evolutionary process that takes place in robotics. It provides articles covering a wide range of this exciting area. The progress of technical challenges and concepts may illuminate the relationship between developments that seem to be completely different at first sight. The robotics remains an exciting scientific and engineering field. The community looks optimistically ahead and also looks forward for the future challenges and new development

NASA SBIR abstracts of 1990 phase 1 projects

The research objectives of the 280 projects placed under contract in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 1990 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 program are described. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses in response to NASA's 1990 SBIR Phase 1 Program Solicitation. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 280, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. The document also includes Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference in the 1990 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA field center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number

Objekt-Manipulation und Steuerung der Greifkraft durch Verwendung von Taktilen Sensoren

This dissertation describes a new type of tactile sensor and an improved version of the dynamic tactile sensing approach that can provide a regularly updated and accurate estimate of minimum applied forces for use in the control of gripper manipulation. The pre-slip sensing algorithm is proposed and implemented into two-finger robot gripper. An algorithm that can discriminate between types of contact surface and recognize objects at the contact stage is also proposed. A technique for recognizing objects using tactile sensor arrays, and a method based on the quadric surface parameter for classifying grasped objects is described. Tactile arrays can recognize surface types on contact, making it possible for a tactile system to recognize translation, rotation, and scaling of an object independently.Diese Dissertation beschreibt eine neue Art von taktilen Sensoren und einen verbesserten Ansatz zur dynamischen Erfassung von taktilen daten, der in regelmäßigen Zeitabständen eine genaue Bewertung der minimalen Greifkraft liefert, die zur Steuerung des Greifers nötig ist. Ein Berechnungsverfahren zur Voraussage des Schlupfs, das in einen Zwei-Finger-Greifarm eines Roboters eingebaut wurde, wird vorgestellt. Auch ein Algorithmus zur Unterscheidung von verschiedenen Oberflächenarten und zur Erkennung von Objektformen bei der Berührung wird vorgestellt. Ein Verfahren zur Objekterkennung mit Hilfe einer Matrix aus taktilen Sensoren und eine Methode zur Klassifikation ergriffener Objekte, basierend auf den Daten einer rechteckigen Oberfläche, werden beschrieben. Mit Hilfe dieser Matrix können unter schiedliche Arten von Oberflächen bei Berührung erkannt werden, was es für das Tastsystem möglich macht, Verschiebung, Drehung und Größe eines Objektes unabhängig voneinander zu erkennen

Roadmap for Optical Tweezers 2023

Optical tweezers are tools made of light that enable contactless pushing, trapping, and manipulation of objects ranging from atoms to space light sails. Since the pioneering work by Arthur Ashkin in the 1970s, optical tweezers have evolved into sophisticated instruments and have been employed in a broad range of applications in life sciences, physics, and engineering. These include accurate force and torque measurement at the femtonewton level, microrheology of complex fluids, single micro- and nanoparticle spectroscopy, single-cell analysis, and statistical-physics experiments. This roadmap provides insights into current investigations involving optical forces and optical tweezers from their theoretical foundations to designs and setups. It also offers perspectives for applications to a wide range of research fields, from biophysics to space exploration

Roadmap for optical tweezers

Optical tweezers are tools made of light that enable contactless pushing, trapping, and manipulation of objects, ranging from atoms to space light sails. Since the pioneering work by Arthur Ashkin in the 1970s, optical tweezers have evolved into sophisticated instruments and have been employed in a broad range of applications in the life sciences, physics, and engineering. These include accurate force and torque measurement at the femtonewton level, microrheology of complex fluids, single micro- and nano-particle spectroscopy, single-cell analysis, and statistical-physics experiments. This roadmap provides insights into current investigations involving optical forces and optical tweezers from their theoretical foundations to designs and setups. It also offers perspectives for applications to a wide range of research fields, from biophysics to space exploration.journal articl

Roadmap for optical tweezers

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, solo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si le hubiere, y los autores pertenecientes a la UAMOptical tweezers are tools made of light that enable contactless pushing, trapping, and manipulation of objects, ranging from atoms to space light sails. Since the pioneering work by Arthur Ashkin in the 1970s, optical tweezers have evolved into sophisticated instruments and have been employed in a broad range of applications in the life sciences, physics, and engineering. These include accurate force and torque measurement at the femtonewton level, microrheology of complex fluids, single micro- and nano-particle spectroscopy, single-cell analysis, and statistical-physics experiments. This roadmap provides insights into current investigations involving optical forces and optical tweezers from their theoretical foundations to designs and setups. It also offers perspectives for applications to a wide range of research fields, from biophysics to space explorationEuropean Commission (Horizon 2020, Project No. 812780