Measurements and Potential Applications of Force-Control Method for Stick-Slip-Driven Nanohandling Robots

Abstract

This paper describes the transition of a recently invented force-generation method to mobile nanohandling robots and outlines future applications. The presented mobile nanohandling robot makes use of miniaturized, piezo-driven Stick-Slip actuators. This allows for very accurate and fast positioning. The drives are fully developed and have proven their performance in fast pickand- place applications. On the other hand, the mentioned force-generation method allows a Stick- Slip axis to exert a dedicated force to any object, which could be useful in many micro- and nanohandling scenarios. However, the method was tested yet only in a testbed similar to the conditions in the robot. Therefore this paper deals with the extrapolation of the results to the real conditions in the robots and discusses benefits and drawbacks. After an introduction of the robot and the force-generation method, measurements are presented and discussed. The paper ends with a sketch of a possible application, which could boost the application potential not only of such mobile robots, but of Stick-Slip-based setups in general.