A vacuum microgripping tool with integrated vibration releasing capability.

Pick-and-place of micro-objects is a basic task in various micromanipulation demands. Reliable releasing of micro-objects is usually disturbed due to strong scale effects. This paper focuses on a vacuum micro-gripper with vibration releasing functionality, which was designed and assembled for reliable micromanipulation tasks. Accordingly, a vibration releasing strategy of implementing a piezoelectric actuator on the vacuum microgripping tool is presented to address the releasing problem. The releasing mechanism was illustrated using a dynamic micro contact model. This model was developed via theoretical analysis, simulations and pull-off force measurement using atomic force microscopy. Micromanipulation experiments were conducted to verify the performance of the vacuum micro-gripper. The results show that, with the assistance of the vibration releasing, the vacuum microgripping tool can achieve reliable release of micro-objects. A releasing location accuracy of 4.5±0.5 μm and a successful releasing rate of around 100% (which is based on 110 trials) were achieved for manipulating polystyrene microspheres with radius of 35-100 μm.

[1]  Manfred Kohl,et al.  SMA microgripper system , 2002 .

[2]  Jurgen Kosel,et al.  Development of a microgripping system for handling of microcomponents , 2008 .

[3]  Denis Wirtz,et al.  Magnetic tweezers for DNA micromanipulation , 2000 .

[4]  Tomomasa Sato,et al.  Kinematics of mechanical and adhesional micromanipulation under a scanning electron microscope , 2002 .

[5]  Sergej Fatikow,et al.  A novel flexure-based microgripper with double amplification mechanisms for micro/nano manipulation. , 2013, The Review of scientific instruments.

[6]  Zhaowei Zhong,et al.  A microgripper using piezoelectric actuation for micro-object manipulation , 2007 .

[7]  Timo Betz,et al.  Automated tracking and laser micromanipulation of motile cells , 2005 .

[8]  Hui Xie,et al.  Development of a Flexible Robotic System for Multiscale Applications of Micro/Nanoscale Manipulation and Assembly , 2011, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[9]  Markus Brunner,et al.  Vacuum tool for handling microobjects with a NanoRobot , 1997, Proceedings of International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[10]  Bijan Shirinzadeh,et al.  Development of novel hybrid flexure-based microgrippers for precision micro-object manipulation. , 2009, The Review of scientific instruments.

[11]  Hui Xie,et al.  In situ quantification of living cell adhesion forces: single cell force spectroscopy with a nanotweezer. , 2014, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[12]  Weibin Rong,et al.  A hybrid-type electrostatically driven microgripper with an integrated vacuum tool , 2010 .

[13]  Yong Zhang,et al.  Active Release of Microobjects Using a MEMS Microgripper to Overcome Adhesion Forces , 2009, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[14]  Mingqiang Pan,et al.  Manipulation of Microobjects Based on Dynamic Adhesion Control , 2012 .

[15]  S. Saito,et al.  Non-impact deposition for electrostatic micromanipulation of a conductive particle by a single probe , 2008 .

[16]  C. Tardivat,et al.  Adhesion evaluation for a stratified system in JKR geometry , 2001 .

[17]  Gih-Keong Lau,et al.  Polymeric Thermal Microactuator With Embedded Silicon Skeleton: Part II—Fabrication, Characterization, and Application for 2-DOF Microgripper , 2008, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[18]  Stephane Regnier,et al.  Simulation of micro-manipulations: Adhesion forces and specific dynamic models , 1999 .

[19]  D. S. Haliyo,et al.  [mü]MAD, the adhesion based dynamic micro-manipulator , 2003 .

[20]  Tuncay Alan,et al.  Particle manipulation using an ultrasonic micro-gripper , 2012 .

[21]  K. Kendall,et al.  Surface energy and the contact of elastic solids , 1971, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[22]  Stephanus Büttgenbach,et al.  Novel micro-pneumatic actuator for MEMS , 2002 .

[23]  Michaël Gauthier,et al.  Nanostructured Nonadhesive Surfaces for Micro- and Nanomanipulation , 2012 .

[24]  Stephane Regnier,et al.  Micro manipulation by adhesion with two collaborating mobile micro robots , 2005 .