Massive motion control of sub-millimeter objects

The current lack of manufacturing techniques for very high volume handling of small objects presents a technology barrier to the commercial success in various fields like micro electromechanical systems (MEMS). A fundamentally new approach to automated massive parallel manipulation of small-sized parts is explored in this paper. The paper explores a pneumatic active surface device (PASD). The appropriate choice of force, caused by blowing or sucking air-flow through tubes of the pneumatic active surface device, is shown to cause objects placed on the array to be moved in manners that are useful. It offers great flexibility and speed and it can be employed to position, orient, identify, sort, feed, and assemble parts or objects. In addition several objects can be controlled simultaneously. This paper describes experimental work done on a prototype pneumatic active surface device, especially open-loop and closed-loop positioning control techniques for sub-millimeter rigid objects.