This paper presents the first microscale micro force sensing mobile microrobot. The design consists of a planar, vision-based micro force sensor end-effector, while the microrobot body is made from photoresist mixed with nickel particles that is driven by an exterior magnetic field. With a known stiffness, the manipulation forces can be determined from observing the deformation of the end-effector through a camera attached to an optical microscope. After analyzing and calibrating the stiffness of a micromachined prototype, proof of concept tests are conducted to verify this microrobot prototype possessing the mobility and in-situ force sensing capabilities. This microscale micro-Force Sensing Mobile Microrobot (μFSMM) is able to translate with the speed up to 10 mm=s in a fluid environment. The calibrated stiffness of the micro force sensor end-effector of the μFSMM is on the order of 10^-2 N=m. The force sensing resolution with the current vision system is approximately 100 nN.

Date Published: 18 June 2015
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9494, Next-Generation Robotics II; and Machine Intelligence and Bio-inspired Computation: Theory and Applications IX, 949405 (18 June 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2183259

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9494:
Next-Generation Robotics II; and Machine Intelligence and Bio-inspired Computation: Theory and Applications IX
Misty Blowers; Dan Popa; Muthu B. J. Wijesundara, Editor(s)