Flexible microrobotic system MINIMAN: design, actuation principle and control

Microsystem technology demands for advanced manipulation facilities which can assemble complex microsystems consisting of many single components (i.e. hybrid microsystems). To perform fully automated microassembly, problems specific to the handling of micro parts have to be considered. It is necessary to introduce flexible, highly precise and fast microassembly methods. Therefore, different microrobots, which offer the possibility to carry out an assembly process under a light optical microscope with a motion resolution of up to 20 nm and speeds of up to 3 cm/s, have been developed by an interdisciplinary research group at the University of Karlsruhe. These robots are embedded into a microassembly desktop station. The paper presents the design, actuation principle and control of the flexible microrobotic system MINIMAN