Our novel micro-electro-opto-mechanical-system (MOEMS) waveguide microgripper device can manipulate micro-scale objects, including cells. In this work we demonstrate its ability to detect the presence of a microscale object between its gripping facets. A sharp edge was used to block the transmitted light and the drop in transmitted light was used to detect the position of the edge. As expected, a significant drop in the output power was observed when an object enters the gap between the gripper arms. The direct optical imaging of light distribution at the output facet of the device was investigated to understand the sensitivity of the device and explore possible applications to micro-scale imaging.
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