Automatic pick-and-place using a magnetically navigated microrobot and a motorized micromanipulator

This paper demonstrates the automatic pick-and-place of a small object in 2D using a magnetically navigated microrobot (MNM) and a motorized micromanipulator (MM). A master/slave control mechanism is used in the manipulation process. The MM is the master manipulator. The MNM is the slave manipulator. To avoid damaging the object by large holding force and to maintain successful holding, a position-based impedance control algorithm is implemented to the slave side. The feedback force to the impedance controller is obtained from an off-board force determination mechanism which overcomes the disadvantages of installing an on-board force sensor on the MNM. The performance of the proposed manipulation system was examined experimentally by transporting a hard-shell object to its desired destinations with predefined holding force. To the authors knowledge, this is the first work reported using a magnetically navigated microrobot to complete manipulation tasks with a screw type manipulator. The proposed system has potential utility in microinjection if the MNM was scaled down to proper size.