Automatic microassembly system assisted by vision servoing and virtual reality

We proposed an automated micromanipulation workcell for visually servoed teleoperated microassembly assisted by virtual reality techniques. It is composed of two micromanipulators equipped with microtools operating under a light microscope. Visual servoing techniques are applied for efficient and reliable position/force feedback during microassembly tasks. First, a pushing-based micromanipulation strategy for the microobject to follow a planned trajectory is proposed under vision based-position control. Then, we present the cooperation control strategy of the microhandling operation under vision-based force control integrating a sensor fusion framework approach. A guiding-system based on virtual microworld exactly reconstructed from the CAD-CAM databases of the real environment being considered is presented for the imprecisely calibrated microworld. Finally, a planned scenario is executed and experimental results of microassembly tasks performed on millimeter-sized components are provided.