Modeling of electrostatic forces induced by chemical surface functionalisation for microrobotics applications.

International audienceNon-contact microrobotics is a promising way to avoid adhesion caused by the well-known scale effects. Nowadays, several non-contact micro-robots exist. Most of them are controlled by magnetic or dielectrophoresis phenomena. To complete this, we propose a method based on electrostatic force induced by chemical functionalisation of substrates. In this study, we show a model of this force supported by experimental results. We reached long range forces measuring an interaction force of several microNewtons and an interaction distance of tens micrometers. This paper shows the relevance of using chemical electrostatic forces for microrobotics applications

Repulsive Force for Micro-and Nano-Non-Contact Manipulation

International audienceNon-contact positioning of micro-objects using electric fields has been widely explored, based on several physical principles such as electrophoresis, dielectrophoresis (DEP) or optical dielectrophoresis (ODEP), in which the actuation force is induced by an electric charge or an electric dipole placed in an electric field. In this paper, we introduce a new way to control charges in non-contact positioning of micro-objects using chemical functionalization (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane-APTES) able to localize charges on a substrate and/or on a micro-object. We demonstrate that this functionalization in a liquid with a low ionic strength is able to concentrate a significant amount of electric charges on surfaces generating an electric field over a long distance (about 10 microns), also called a large exclusion zone (EZ). A model is proposed and validated with electrostatic force measurements between substrate and microparticles (diameter up to 40 µm). We demonstrate that the magnitude of the force and the force range decrease rapidly when the ionic strength of the medium increases. Based on the proposed model, we show that this new way to localize charges on micro-objects may be used for non-contact positioning

Modeling of electrostatic forces induced by chemical surface functionalisation for microrobotics applications.

International audienceNon-contact microrobotics is a promising way to avoid adhesion caused by the well-known scale effects. Nowadays, several non-contact micro-robots exist. Most of them are controlled by magnetic or dielectrophoresis phenomena. To complete this, we propose a method based on electrostatic force induced by chemical functionalisation of substrates. In this study, we show a model of this force supported by experimental results. We reached long range forces measuring an interaction force of several microNewtons and an interaction distance of tens micrometers. This paper shows the relevance of using chemical electrostatic forces for microrobotics applications

Design and closed-loop control of a tri-layer Polypyrrole based telescopic soft robot

International audienceA novel structure of a 2 DoF telescopic soft robot using a tri-layer Polypyrrole (PPy) soft micro-actuator with deployment is presented in this paper. The kinematic model is introduced and the Position Based Visual Servo (PBVS) control with path-planning and obstacle avoidance algorithms is developed. A prototype is presented and the control schemes are validated experimentally. A satisfactory accuracy with a submillimetric positioning error is obtained namely 287.6 microns for a circular path and 210 microns for obstacle avoidanc

Synthesis, Encapsulation, and Performance Analysis of Large Deformation Tri-layer Polypyrrole Actuator

International audienceThis paper reports the synthesis of an electroactivepolymer actuator in polypyrrole (PPy) on a polyvinylidenedifluoride (PVDF) substrate. The technological development isdetailed. This study reports our investigation on a tri-layer PPyactuator for large deformations and comparison with literaturemodeling.We also investigate their use towards real applicationsby introducing lifetime measurement, encapsulation and closedloop contro

Development of new sticky and conducting polymer surfaces for MEMS applications

International audience<span style="color: rgb(130, 107, 107); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248);"&gtThe development of new surfaces, highly sticky and conducting, is a great challenge in the field of microdevices fabrication, and more precisely for the 3D assembly of microcomponents. Such surfaces were prepared by electrochemical deposition of polyaniline films. The films prepared from a phosphoric acid solution were more adhesive than the ones obtained in other acids. Indeed, the adhesion of the polyaniline films prepared in H3PO4 was found to be high (&gt; 1 µN) and stable in time, as shown by AFM force measurements. The adhesion properties were correlated with the morphology, thickness and roughness of the polyaniline films, and the electrodeposition conditions (H3PO4 concentration and electrodeposition time) were optimized. The adhesion properties of this original polymer films were found to be similar to those of the best commercial glues. The conductivity of the polyaniline film was also demonstrated as well as the possibility for the polyaniline films to switch reversibly from a non-adhesive to an adhesive behavior. A wide range of applications, in the field of telecommunications, bioengineering, and more generally speaking MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) can be envisaged for these materials.</span&g