High-Speed Automated Manipulation of Microobjects Using a Two-Fingered Microhand

In this paper, we present a high-speed pick-and-place method for cell-assembly applications. In addition to the range of motion and accuracy, the agility of a manipulation system is an important parameter, but it has been so far underrated in the literature. To begin high-speed micromanipulation, obtaining 3-D positions of both the target microobject and the end effector rapidly is necessary. Controlling the residual vibration of the end effector, which is greater at high speed, is another arduous task. Successful releasing of objects in microscale is also demanding. We propose a new fast detection algorithm for both the target microobject and the end effector, which will enable us to achieve high-speed control of the system. Moreover, to realize stable grasping for very fast movements, the vibration of the system is compensated, and a controllable vibration is applied to the end effectors while performing the releasing task. High-speed control of the microhand system is demonstrated with extensive experiments consisting of pick-and-place actions of 40-60 μm microspheres; we aimed at performing the task in 1 s. A comparison with similar studies shows the advantage of the proposed automated high-speed micromanipulation system.