Joerg Seyfried

Flexible microrobots for micro assembly tasks

A wide range of microcomponents can today be produced using various microfabrication techniques, The assembly of complex microsystems consisting of several single components (i.e., hybrid microsystems) is, however, a difficult task that is seen to be a real challenge for the robotic research community. It is necessary to conceive flexible, highly precise and fast microassembly methods. In this paper, the development of a microrobot-based microassembly station is presented. Mobile piezoelectric microrobots with dimensions of some cm/sup 3/ and with at least 5 DOF can perform various manipulations either under a light microscope or inside the vacuum chamber of a scanning electron microscope. The components of the station developed and its control system are described. The latter comprises a vision-based sensor system for automatic robot control and user interfaces for semi-automated control and teleoperation. First results of the SEM-based micro assembly, handling of biological cells and integration of force microsensors into our microrobots are presented as well.

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.

Automatic control system of a microrobot-based microassembly station using computer vision

The assembly of complex microsystems consisting of several single components (i.e. hybrid microsystems) is a difficult task that is seen to be a real challenge for the robotics research community. It is necessary to conceive flexible, highly precise and fast microassembly devices and methods. In this paper, the development of a microrobot-based microassembly station is presented. Mobile piezoelectric microrobots with dimensions of some cm3 and with at least 5 DOF can perform various manipulations either under a light microscope or within the vacuum chamber of a scanning electron microscope. The control system of the microassembly station is described. The main attention is given to a vision-based sensor system for automatic robot control and a re-configurable parallel computer array enabling the station to work in real-time.

An automated assembly system for a microassembly station

Abstract The production of complex microsystems from a number of microcomponents made of different materials requires flexible, precise mechanisms, which can finely manipulate different types of objects. The microassembly has its specifics caused by the tiny dimensions of the robots, high accuracy and complicated vision and control systems required. This paper presents a concept of an intelligent microassembly planning system. This system has been implemented in a micromanipulation station with mobile piezoelectric microrobots, which has been developed at the Institute for Process Control and Robotics (IPR) at the University of Karlsruhe [S. Fatikow, U. Rembold, An automated microrobot-based desktop station for micro assembly and handling of microobjects, ETFA IEEE conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, Kauai Marriott, Kauai, Hawaii, November 18–21 1996, pp. 586–592; S. Fatikow, R. Munassypov, An intelligent micromanipulation cell for industrial and biomedical applications based on piezoelectric microrobot, Proc. Of the 5th Int. Conference on Micro Electro, Opto, Mechanical Systems and Components (MSTU96), Berlin, September 17–19 1996, pp. 826–828]. This research considers the assembly system as a complex system and represents a microassembly environment for the microassembly station. The information flow, interacting and functioning of separate parts of the micromanipulation station are determined and the integration of the assembly subsystem into the station are presented. The principal approaches for each part of the system are given.

Teleoperated assembly of a micro‐lens system by means of a micro‐manipulation workstation

Purpose – The aim of the research is to perform an accurate micromanipulation task, the assembly of a lens system, implementing safe procedures in a flexible microrobot‐based workstation for micromanipulation.Design/methodology/approach – The approach to the micromanipulation research issue consists in designing and building a micromanipulation station based on mobile microrobots, with 5 degrees of freedom and a size of a few cm3, capable of moving and manipulating by the use of tube‐shaped and multilayered piezo‐actuators. Controlled by visual and force/tactile sensor information, the micro‐robot is able to perform manipulation with a motion resolution down to 10 nm in a telemanipulated or semi‐automated mode, thus freeing human operators from the difficult task of handling minuscule objects directly. Equipped with purposely‐developed grippers, the robot can take over high‐precise grasping, transport, manipulation and positioning of mechanical or biological micro‐objects. A computer system using PC‐compa...

Planning of a microassembly task in a flexible microrobot cell

After introducing a flexible microrobot cell that has been developed at the University of Karlsruhe, we present the assembly planning system of this cell, which is tailored to the specific needs of microassembly. Important differences between conventional (macro-) assembly and microassembly are discussed. These must to be taken into account at the assembly planning level to be able to perform an efficient microassembly. A formal description of a planning procedure is presented and planning algorithms are described. The planning system has been tested by an example of an automatic assembly planning of the worldwide smallest commercially available micromotor made by Faulhaber, German. The test results achieved are demonstrated.

Computer Aided Planning System of a Flexible Microrobot-Based Microassembly Station

The assembly of complex microsystems consisting of several single components (i.e. hybrid microsystems) is a task which has to be solved to make mass production of microsystems possible. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce flexible, highly precise and fast microassembly methods. In this paper, the control system of a microrobot-based microassembly desktop station that has been developed at the University of Karlsruhe, will be presented from the lower to the planning levels. This comprises vision-based closed-loop control, user interfaces, a re-configurable computer-array, execution planning and assembly planning algorithms tailored to the needs of the microassembly station.

Information Processing in a Flexible Robot-Based Microassembly Station

Abstract In biology, microelectronics and microsystem technology many operations are today performed by hand which might also be done by micromanipulation robots. Several prototypes of such robots have already been built and tested, and now higher-level problems have to be tackled: control systems with adequate computational power, user-interfaces and planning systems for micromanipulation systems have to be implemented and tested. Special attention must be paid to the requirements of micromanipulation, which differs greatly in some aspects from conventional manipulation. This paper discusses the information processing aspects of the control system of a micromanipulation station. The micromanipulation station consists of a microassembly robot working under a light-optical microscope, a CCD camera and an XY-stage. The requirements for the control computer system are high: assembly and execution planning has to be done in order to perform fully-automated microassembly, a vision system is necessary, and the control of the microrobots and the peripherals connected to the system demand high I/O power. The paper also shows a user interface to access the system resources in a user-friendly way and presents a sketch of the planning and the control algorithms