Manipulation and assembly tasks associated with micro-systems, biotechnology, and product miniaturization demand that robots increasingly operate at microscopic dimensions. This paper discusses a new microscope design, called the adaptive scanning optical microscope (ASOM), that is particularly suitable for observing robotic activities at the micron scale. The ASOM combines a custom designed scanner lens, high speed steering mirror, and MEMS deformable mirror to offer the advantages of a greatly expanded field of view, rapid image acquisition, and no agitation to the workspace or specimen. After briefly discussing the challenges of micro assembly and micro manipulation, we present the ASOM theory of operation and include simulated performance results. A low cost proof-of-concept experimental prototype of the ASOM is then described and used to demonstrate shape optimization of the MEMS deformable mirror for different field positions. Realtime tracking of multiple micromanipulators in a workspace and full area coverage are experimentally demonstrated. These results validate the ASOM concept and serve as a crucial step towards realizing a fully operational and high performance ASOM to enable the observation of micro-robotic activities over a large workspace

We present a high-precision monolithic glass micro-displacement sensor suitable for harsh or sensitive environment in general and electromagnetic radiation environment in particular. Our displacement sensor is made out of a single piece of glass through a two-steps process based on femtosecond laser illumination followed by chemical etching. This process is used to create for the first time integrated waveguided-optics and mechanical flexures within a three-dimensional glass body.

In microsystems applications from micro-assembly to biological observation and manipulation, the optical microscope remains one of the most important tools. However, it suffers from the well known trade-off between resolution and field of view. Traditional solutions involve moving the sample under the microscope using a moving stage or moving the microscope itself, and switching between low and high magnification objective lenses. In this paper, we present a new optical microscope design that uses a 2-dimensional high speed, high precision steering mirror system to scan the sample. By stitching the images together as a mosaic, we have the potential to achieve both high resolution and large field of view. Working in coordination with a deformable mirror, this arrangement offers certain advantages over the current state of the art in demanding spatial-temporal observations. We describe the theory of operation, our design methodology, and present a preliminary simulated design. A reduced functionality experimental prototype has been constructed to demonstrate the basic efficacy of the concept and we demonstrate with both biological and micro-assembly examples.

This paper presents a monolithic shape memory alloy (SMA) microgripper, which was developed to assemble microscopic building blocks of width 60 /spl mu/m into tissue engineering scaffolds. It consists of two small fingers for grasping, an actuator which changes its shape upon heating by Joule effect and a parallel elastic structure to provide a pullback force on cooling as well as to guide the finger movement. All the elements are laser-cut from the same Ni-Ti-Cu sheet but have different mechanical properties and are used for different functions. Using local laser annealing, a local shape memory effect is introduced on the actuator while leaving other areas in a cold-worked state, i.e. no shape memory effect occurs. The material has nonlinear mechanics and the actuator undergoes large deflections. A numerical method is introduced to compute the nonlinear dynamics of the coupled system formed by the actuator and pullback spring. The predicted deflection and force are in good agreement with the measured ones, and this model can be used to optimize the design.

Describes an integrated approach to design and fabricate scaffold/cell constructs for tissue engineering. With this approach it becomes possible to produce scaffolds with controlled distribution of living cells and growth factors, a critical condition for successful grafting. Our idea consists of building a scaffold/cell construct by robotic micro-assembly of microscopic polymer building blocks. The paper introduces the rationale and concept of this interdisciplinary project and presents some realized steps. A 3D contact FEM simulation has been carried out to study the forces involved on the scaffold elements and micro-gripper during assembly. An error analysis has been performed to evaluate the accumulated error when building a scaffold/cell construct. A dedicated monolithic shape memory alloy micro-gripper has been realized and tested, which is able to handle parts in the range of 50-100 microns.