Closed-loop control of rigid and flexible objects on a pneumatic active surface device

Research related to sub-millimeter or even micro-sized objects, such as micromechatronics, has the potential to make huge impacts on our society. Current manufacturing techniques, however, are incapable of massive parallel handling of objects at these scales. The lack of manufacturing techniques for massive parallel manipulation of so small objects presents a technology barrier to the eventual commercial success in fields like MEMS. The programmable and position closed-loop controllable pneumatic active surface device presented in this paper is a fundamentally new approach to automated massive small-sized parts manipulation. The appropriate choice of force generated 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 greater ability and speed and it can be employed to position, orient, identify, sort, feed, and assemble parts or objects on the active surface device. It can control several objects simultaneously. This paper first describes an experimental device and potential applications, and then it focuses on closed-loop positioning control techniques (translating) for rigid (VLSI chips, MEMS) objects and flexible (PVC polyvinyl foil, paper). The implemented control strategies have been successfully tested on the experimental device as described in the paper.