Manipulating objects with gliders in cellular automata

Micro-scale manipulation of objects is a growing requirement in specialised industries, especially those related to assembly of fragile micro-components. Widely implemented techniques in robotics and automation do not always cope with the delicate nature of the process. To improve the micro-scale manipulators we consider both hardware and software issues, and focus on designing massive-parallel embedded controllers for non-trivial actuating surfaces. This paper offers an initial insight on cellular automata (CA) gliders control of a smart surface. A brief presentation of the prototype hardware will be given along with a justification on the selection of manipulated objects. The formulation of the excitable CA lattice is presented and experimental data is analysed. The results support the capabilities of a fully distributed CA controlled massive parallel manipulation architecture.