Design and performance evaluation of a 3-DOF mobile microrobot for micromanipulation

In this paper, a compact 3-DOF mobile microrobot with sub-micron resolution is presented. It has many outstanding features: it is as small as a coin ; its precision is of sub-micrometer resolution on the plane; it has an unlimited travel range; and it has simple and compact mechanisms and structures which can be realized at low cost. With the impact actuating mechanism, this system enable both fast coarse motion and highly precise fine motion with a pulse wave input voltage controlled. The 1-DOF impact actuating mechanism is modeled by taking into consideration the friction between the piezoelectric actuator and base. This modeling technique is extended to simulate the motion of the 3-DOF mobile robot. In addition, experiments are conducted to verify that the simulations accurately represent the real system. The modeling and simulation results will be used to design the model-based controller for the target system. The developed system can be used as a robotic positioning device in the micromanipulation system that determines the position of micro-sized components or particles in a small space, or assemble them in the mesoscale structure.