Novel parameter estimation schemes in microsystems

This paper presents two novel estimation methods that are designed to enhance our ability of observing, positioning, and physically transforming the objects and/or biological structures in micromanipulation tasks. In order to effectively monitor and position the microobjects, an online calibration method with submicron precision via a recursive least square solution is presented. To provide the adequate information to manipulate the biological structures without damaging the cell or tissue during an injection, a nonlinear spring-mass-damper model is introduced and mechanical properties of a zebrafish embryo are obtained. These two methods are validated on a microassembly workstation and the results are evaluated quantitatively

A versatile and reconfigurable microassembly workstation

In this paper, a versatile and reconfigurable microassembly workstation designed and realized as a research tool for investigation of the problems in microassembly and micromanipulation processes and recent developments on mechanical and control structure of the system with respect to the previous workstation are presented. These developments include: (i) addition of a manipulator system to realize more complicated assembly and manipulation tasks, (ii) addition of extra DOF for the vision system and sample holder stages in order to make the system more versatile (iii) a new optical microscope as the vision system in order to visualize the microworld and determine the position and orientation of micro components to be assembled or manipulated, (iv) a modular control system hardware which allows handling more DOF. In addition several experiments using the workstation are presented in different modes of operation like tele-operated, semiautomated and fully automated by means of visual based schemes

A Workstation for microassembly

In this paper, an open-architecture, reconfigurable microassembly workstation for efficient and reliable assembly of micromachined parts is presented. The workstation is designed to be used as a research tool for investigation of the problems in microassembly. The development of such a workstation includes the design of: (i) a manipulation system consisting of motion stages providing necessary travel range and precision for the realization of assembly tasks, (ii) a vision system to visualize the microworld and the determination of the position and orientation of micro components to be assembled, (iii) a robust control system and necessary mounts for the end effectors in such a way that according to the task to be realized, the manipulation tools can be easily changed and the system will be ready for the predefined task. In addition tele-operated and semi-automated assembly concepts are implemented. The design is verified by implementing the range of the tasks in micro-parts manipulation. The versatility of the workstation is demonstrated and high accuracy of positioning is sho

Novel estimation and control techniques in micromanipulation using vision and force feedback

With the recent advances in the fields of micro and nanotechnology, there has been growing interest for complex micromanipulation and microassembly strategies. Despite the fact that many commercially available micro devices such as the key components in automobile airbags, ink-jet printers and projection display systems are currently produced in a batch technique with little assembly, many other products such as read/write heads for hard disks and fiber optics assemblies require flexible precision assemblies. Furthermore, many biological micromanipulations such as invitro-fertilization, cell characterization and treatment rely on the ability of human operators. Requirement of high-precision, repeatable and financially viable operations in these tasks has given rise to the elimination of direct human involvement, and autonomy in micromanipulation and microassembly. In this thesis, a fully automated dexterous micromanipulation strategy based on vision and force feedback is developed. More specifically, a robust vision based control architecture is proposed and implemented to compensate errors due to the uncertainties about the position, behavior and shape of the microobjects to be manipulated. Moreover, novel estimators are designed to identify the system and to characterize the mechanical properties of the biological structures through a synthesis of concepts from the computer vision, estimation and control theory. Estimated mechanical parameters are utilized to reconstruct the imposed force on a biomembrane and to provide the adequate information to control the position, velocity and acceleration of the probe without damaging the cell/tissue during an injection task

Robotic Micromanipulation and Microassembly using Mono-view and Multi-scale visual servoing.

International audienceThis paper investigates sequential robotic micromanipulation and microassembly in order to build 3-D microsystems and devices. A mono-view and multiple scale 2-D visual control scheme is implemented for that purpose. The imaging system used is a photon video microscope endowed with an active zoom enabling to work at multiple scales. It is modelled by a non-linear projective method where the relation between the focal length and the zoom factor is explicitly established. A distributed robotic system (xy system, z system) with a twofingers gripping system is used in conjunction with the imaging system. The results of experiments demonstrate the relevance of the proposed approaches. The tasks were performed with the following accuracy: 1.4 m for the positioning error, and 0.5 for the orientation error

Automatic Microassembly System for tissue engineering- Assisted with top-view and force control

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Design and realization of a microassembly workstation

With the miniaturization of products to the levels of micrometers and the recent developments in microsystem fabrication technologies, there is a great need for an assembly process for the formation of complex hybrid microsystems. Integration of microcomponents made up of different materials and manufactured using different micro fabrication techniques is still a primary challenge since some of the fundamental problems originating from the small size of parts to be manipulated, high precision necessity and specific problems of the microworld in that field are still not fully investigated. In this thesis, design and development of an open-architecture and reconfigurable microassembly workstation for efficient and reliable assembly of micromachined parts is presented. The workstation is designed to be used as a research tool for investigation of the problems in microassembly. The development of such a workstation includes the design of: (i) a manipulation system consisting of motion stages providing necessary travel range and precision for the realization of assembly tasks, (ii) a vision system to visualize the microworld and the determination of the position and orientation of micro components to be assembled, (iii) a robust control system and necessary fixtures for the end effectors that allow easy change of manipulation tools and make the system ready for the desired task. In addition tele-operated and semi-automated assembly concepts are implemented. The design is verified by implementing tasks in various ranges for micro-parts manipulation. The versatility of the workstation is demonstrated and high accuracy of positioning is shown

Automated Guiding Task of a Flexible Micropart Using a Two-Sensing-Finger Microgripper.

International audienceThis paper studies automated tasks based on hybrid force/position control of a flexible object at the microscale. A guiding task of a flexible micropart is the case of the study and is achieved by a two-sensing-finger microgripper. An experimental model of the behavior of the microgripper is given and the interaction forces are studied. Based on grasp stability, a guiding strategy taking into account the pull off forces is proposed. A specific control strategy using an external hybrid force/position control and taking into account microscale specificities is proposed. The experimental results of automated guiding task are presented

Workshop on "Robotic assembly of 3D MEMS".

Proceedings of a workshop proposed in IEEE IROS'2007.The increase of MEMS' functionalities often requires the integration of various technologies used for mechanical, optical and electronic subsystems in order to achieve a unique system. These different technologies have usually process incompatibilities and the whole microsystem can not be obtained monolithically and then requires microassembly steps. Microassembly of MEMS based on micrometric components is one of the most promising approaches to achieve high-performance MEMS. Moreover, microassembly also permits to develop suitable MEMS packaging as well as 3D components although microfabrication technologies are usually able to create 2D and "2.5D" components. The study of microassembly methods is consequently a high stake for MEMS technologies growth. Two approaches are currently developped for microassembly: self-assembly and robotic microassembly. In the first one, the assembly is highly parallel but the efficiency and the flexibility still stay low. The robotic approach has the potential to reach precise and reliable assembly with high flexibility. The proposed workshop focuses on this second approach and will take a bearing of the corresponding microrobotic issues. Beyond the microfabrication technologies, performing MEMS microassembly requires, micromanipulation strategies, microworld dynamics and attachment technologies. The design and the fabrication of the microrobot end-effectors as well as the assembled micro-parts require the use of microfabrication technologies. Moreover new micromanipulation strategies are necessary to handle and position micro-parts with sufficiently high accuracy during assembly. The dynamic behaviour of micrometric objects has also to be studied and controlled. Finally, after positioning the micro-part, attachment technologies are necessary

Robotic micromanipulation for microassembly : modelling by sequencial function chart and achievement by multiple scale visual servoings.

International audienceThe paper investigates robotic assembly by focusing on the manipulation of microparts. This task is formalized through the notion of basic tasks which are organized in a logical sequence represented by a function chart and interpreted as the model of the behavior of the experimental setup. The latter includes a robotic system, a gripping system, an imaging system, and a clean environment. The imaging system is a photon videomicroscope able to work at multiple scales. It is modelled by a linear projective model where the relation between the scale factor and the magnification or zoom is explicitly established. So, the usual visual control law is modified in order to take into account this relation. The manipulation of some silicon microparts (400 μm×400 μm×100 μm) by means of a distributed robotic system (xyθ system, ϕz system), a two-finger gripping system and a controllable zoom and focus videomicroscope shows the relevance of the concepts. The 30 % of failure rate comes mainly from the physical phenomena (electrostatic and capillary forces) instead of the accuracy of control or the occultations of microparts