This paper analyzes and develops new approaches for handling and shaping collections of microscale objects such as particles or cells. While traditional dielectrophoretic manipulation approaches are based on creating an energy trap, this work employs a distributed manipulation philosophy: shaping the energy field to model the point-wise forces and hence the characteristics of the field. This method offers a better perspective on the behavior, exact shape, position, and orientation of the collection of objects under manipulation. Furthermore, this research showcases devices that artificially generate planar quadratic and squeezing force fields by setting the potential at each point in space. These devices enable the positioning of particles and collections of particles to a predefined shape and orientation. Finally, we demonstrate a novel approach to distributed manipulation. We construct a 3-D potential force field by setting the boundary conditions of the differential equation describing the dynamics of a natural medium (the voltage profile in our case). This approach is illustrated by constructing cylindrical and ellipsoidal potential force fields for use in particle and cell manipulation.

Planar quadratic potential fields are useful for distributed manipulation because they are readily analyzable and naturally produce predictable equilibria. This generally simplifies implementation since feedback and control may not be necessary. Traditionally, to dynamically produce moving fields for complex manipulation tasks, these fields had to be realized by highly capable but redundant actuator arrays. This paper suggests a new method: using simpler devices to generate basic component fields, and superposing these fields to produce desired fields with similar degrees of freedom. This approach is particularly useful for naturally produced force fields which do not allow the dynamic moving and changing of a field but allow for superposition and thus can be spatially combined to produce the desired net behaviors. A vector representation of these fields is developed and applied to two problems: How to place the fields in space to span the maximum possible configuration space, and how to generate an optimal solution to generate a desired field by a superposition of a fixed field arrangement with minimal effort from each field. Finally, we experimentally validated these methods using airflow fields based on phenomenological and time superposition

Planar quadratic potential fields are useful for distributed manipulation because they are readily analyzable and naturally produce predictable equilibria. This generally simplifies implementation, since feedback and control may not be necessary. Traditionally, to dynamically produce moving fields for complex manipulation tasks, these fields had to be realized by highly capable, but redundant, actuator arrays. This paper suggests a new method: using simpler devices to generate basic component fields, and superposing these fields to produce desired fields with similar degrees of freedom. This approach is particularly useful for naturally produced force fields which do not allow the dynamic moving and changing of a field, but allow for superposition, and thus, can be spatially combined to produce the desired net behaviors. A vector representation of these fields is developed and applied to two problems: how to place the fields in space to span the maximum possible configuration space; and how to generate an optimal solution to generate a desired field by a superposition of a fixed field arrangement with minimal effort from each field. We experimentally validated these methods using airflow fields based on phenomenological and time superposition. Finally, we use superposition to simplify trajectory following, by blending proportions of two fields over time and by superimposing a set of component fields, each responsible for compensating a particular dynamic term

Distributed manipulation systems induce motions on objects through the application of many external forces. Many of these systems are abstracted as planar programmable force fields. Quadratic potential fields form a class of such fields that lend themselves to analytical study and exhibit useful stability properties. This paper introduces a new methodology to build quadratic potential fields with simple devices using the naturally existing phenomena of airflow, which is an improvement to the traditional use of the complicated programmable actuator arrays. It also provides a basis for the exploitation, in distributed manipulation, of natural phenomena like airflow, which require rigorous analysis and display stability difficulties. A demonstration and verification of the theoretical results for the special case of the elliptic field with airflows is also presented.

Distributed manipulation systems induce motions on objects through the application of many external forces. Many of these systems are abstracted as planar programmable force fields. Quadratic potential fields, which belong to such a class of fields, lend themselves to analytical study and exhibit useful stability properties. This paper introduces a new methodology to build Quadratic fields with simple devices using the naturally existing phenomena of airflow which is an improvement to the traditional use of the complicated programmable actuator arrays. It also provides a basis for the exploitation, in distributed manipulation, of natural phenomena like airflow, which require rigorous analysis and display stability difficulties. A demonstration and verification of the theoretical results for the special case of the elliptic field with air flows is also presented.

Distributed manipulation systems induce motions on objects through the application of many external forces. An actuator array performs distributed manipulation using a planar array of many stationary elements, which cooperate to manipulate larger objects through the generation of a programmable force field. This paper defines and studies a class of manipulation force fields called quadratic potential fields. Methodology is developed to decompose these fields into simpler components and superimpose them both vectorially and geometrically, simplifying the design of manipulation strategies. Application to trajectory following is also presented.

Distributed manipulation systems induce motions on objects through the application of many external forces. An actuator array performs distributed manipulation using a planar array of many small stationary elements, which cooperate to manipulate larger objects through the generation of a programmable force field. The paper demonstrates a methodology to perform trajectory following to transport objects with specified position and orientation. Open-loop "elliptic" force fields transport objects by pulling them along the trajectory both in position and orientation. This is done in three stages: purely open loop, open loop with feed-forward compensation to correct for steady-state error on lines and around circular curves, and closed-loop with both feed-forward and small-signal linearized feedback. These approaches apply to arbitrary paths through linear and circular trajectory approximations. Results are verified through simulation.