A complete manipulation platform for characterization of micro-components

This paper presents a complete manipulation platform for characterization of micro-components that is being developed in the scope of the European project GOLEM. Various tools such as electrical probes and force sensors have been designed and integrated on both high precision mobile micro-robots and fixed manipulators in order to interact with micro-objects. The platform enables the user to characterize parts with sizes ranging from sub-micrometer up to the millimeter. Forces ranging from 1 mN up to 120 mN can be measured as well as electrical resistivity of microcomponents. As the characterization platform is aimed to be used by material scientists and biologists, the manipulation is "assisted" so that the user focuses on the application and not on the robotic systems. One of the key features is that the control software will automatically bring the end-effectors of the manipulators in the local (microscope) field of view. The platform is composed of an XY stage mounted on an inverted optical microscope, of manipulators (fixed and mobile) and of various sensors (optical, force and electrical).