Development of a Micro-scale Assembly Facility with a Three Fingered, Self-aware Assembly Tool and Electro-chemical Etching Capabilities

摘要

This abstract outlines current developments of a micro-assembly facility focusing on studies using a three fingered gripper. Individual fingers of the gripper comprise thin fibers ranging in diameter from 7 to 80 m that are attached to quartz based oscillators and are capable of sensing proximity, contact, and controlling adhesion forces. To optimize gripper finger performance, an electrolytic etching facility has been used to selectively modify oscillator performance and this system is currently being developed for automated processing. To demonstrate current performance of the gripper system, a micro-CMM contact sensing probe has been assembled and a preliminary performance evaluation is presented.