Automated initial setup method for two-fingered micro hand system

A two-fingered micro hand has been available for use for years and allows dexterous manipulation of a single cell: grabbing, positioning, rotating and releasing. The end-effector of this micro hand consists of two glass needles; however, the glass tips must be finely adjusted and the micro hand must be calibrated prior to use. Because these initial procedures require highly skilled human operators and a great deal of time, a fine adjustment module (FAM) has been developed for assisting with the fine adjustment work and was successfully shown to make the initial setup easier. However, problems with the calibration process and with the dependence on a user of the FAM control are still present. One means of improving the system for users is to automate the initial setup. The detection of the glass tips in a wide range of Z directions from a microscopic image having a small depth of focus requires robust calibration and must be possible using an automated FAM control. From this perspective, the tip position detection algorithm using the evaluation function, Image Quality Measurement (IQM), is proposed in this paper. Based on this algorithm, the automated initial setup method is explained and its effectiveness is experimentally evaluated.