Design of a Micro-Gripper and an Ultrasonic Manipulator for Handling Micron Sized Objects

Author

Beyeler, F. ; Bell, D.J. ; Nelson, B.J. ; Sun, Y. ; Neild, A. ; Oberti, S. ; Dual, J.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Robotics & Intelligent Syst., Swiss Fed. Inst. of Technol., Zurich

fYear

2006

fDate

Oct. 2006

Firstpage

772

Lastpage

777

Abstract

This work reports on a system consisting of a MEMS (microelectromechanical system) gripper and an ultrasonic manipulator. The gripper is electrostatically actuated and includes an integrated force sensor measuring the gripping force. The device is monolithically fabricated using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) fabrication process. The resolution of the force sensor is in the sub-micronewton range and, therefore, provides feedback of the forces that dominate the micromanipulation processes. A MEMS ultrasonic device is described which aligns small objects such as biological cells prior to manipulation with the gripper. The concept is demonstrated with polymer spheres, glass spheres and Hela cancer cells, thus providing a useful tool in micro-robotics and biological research

Keywords

electrostatic actuators; force sensors; grippers; micromanipulators; silicon-on-insulator; ultrasonic devices; Hela cancer cells; MEMS ultrasonic device; electrostatic actuators; force sensor; glass spheres; microgripper; micron sized objects; polymer spheres; silicon-on-insulator fabrication process; ultrasonic manipulator; Electrostatic measurements; Fabrication; Force feedback; Force measurement; Force sensors; Grippers; Microelectromechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Silicon on insulator technology; Ultrasonic variables measurement; Hela cells; force feedback; microgripper; ultrasonic positioning;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2006 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on

Conference_Location

Beijing

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0259-X

Electronic_ISBN

1-4244-0259-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IROS.2006.282628

Filename

4058453