1. VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
BELAGAVI - 590014
A TECHNICAL SEMINAR PRESENTATION ON
Robotic Micromanipulation: Actuators and their
Application
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering
S.D.M Institute Of Technology, Ujire
Seminar guide
Mr.Mahesh D S
Presented by
Bharath R N
4SU20EC006
3. Introduction
• Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) is a process technology
used to create tiny integrated devices or systems that combine
mechanical and electrical components.
• In the most general form, MEMS consist of mechanical
microstructures,microsensors, microactuators and microelectronics, all
integrated onto the same silicon chips.
• MEMS is not just about the miniaturization of mechanical components
or making things out of silicon. MEMS is a manufacturing technology;
a paradigm for designing and creating complex mechanical devices
and systems as well as their integrated electronics using batch
fabrication techniques.
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4. Introduction
• Microsensors detect changes in the system’s
environment by measuring mechanical, thermal,
magnetic, chemical or electromagnetic information
or phenomena.
• Microelectronics process this information and
signal the microactuators to react and create some
form of changes to the environment.
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Figure 1. Schematic illustration of
MEMS components
Figure 2. The DENSO Micro-Car
5. LITERATURE SURVEY
Sl.No.
Paper andAuthors Year of
publication
Publication Learning
1 “Review on piezoelectric actuators:
materials, classifications, applications,
and recent trends” Xuyang ZHOUa,
Shuang WUb, Xiaoxu WANGb.
2020 Springer Piezoelectric_materials are briefly
reviewed, including_single crystals,
Piezoelectric_ceramics,and
polymers.The_working principle,
pros and cons, and potential
applications_are_discussed in detail
for each mainstream_actuator_type.
2 “Electrothermal Actuators and
Applications” ,Alissa Potekhina and
Changhai Wang, Edinburgh EH14 4AS,
UK .
2019 MDPI This paper presented main
principles and designs of
electrothermal actuators as well as
their typical applications in
MEMS.The current state and some
trends in the use of electrothermal
actuators have been discussed.
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6. Sl.No.
Paper andAuthors Year of
publication
Publication Learning
3 “Actuation and Sensing Mechanisms
in MEMS-Based Sensor Devices”
Abdullah Saleh Algamili , Mohd Haris .
2017 IEEE This article reviews several popular
actuation and sensing mechanisms
related to MEMS devices that have
emerged over the past few decades.
This article introduced a descriptive
overview to the advancement of the
actuation and sensing mechanisms
of the MEMS-based sensor devices.
4 “Efficiency Analysis of SMA-Based
Actuators” Dorin Copaci , David
Serrano del Cerro , Luis Moreno.
2020 IEEE This Paper gives SMA-based
actuators are excellent candidates
for robotics applications,
eliminating gears, housing, boxes,
bearings, and so on, with reduced
noise level, lower cost compared
with other actuators, and permit
work in different environments
including corrosive environments. .
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7. Types of Microactuators
• The main five types of microactuators are:
1.Piezoelectric actuators .
2.Electrothermal actuators.
3. Electromagnetic actuators.
4. Electrodynamic actuators .
5. Shape memory alloy (SMA) based actuators.
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8. 1.Piezoelectric actuators:
• The working principle of piezoelectric actuators is
based on the electrostriction effect occurring in some
dielectric materials.
• Such material deforms under the applied external
electric field, which induces polarization of electric
domains inside the material (Fig. 3).
• Piezoelectric actuators consist of a single piece or
stack of piezoelectric materials, generating
microscopic displacements from 10 picometres (pm)
to 100 micrometres (µm).
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Figure 3. A schematic
representation of electrostriction
effect: a) initial state
9. 2.Electrothermal actuators
• Electrothermal actuators usually operate by controlling
the balance between the thermal energy generated by
an electric current and heat dissipation through the
environment or substrate.
• There are three frequent types of electrothermal drives:
a) hot-and-cold arm drive
b) chevron
c) bimorph types.
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Figure 4. Electrothermal U-
shaped hot-and-cold-arm
actuator
Figure 5. Electrothermal V-shape
actuator
10. 2.Electrothermal actuators
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.
Applications
• Hot-and-cold-arm actuators are used in microgrippers,
micropositioners, RF, optical systems, and
micromechanical switching design .
• Electrothermal actuators, especially soft actuators, are used
in the design of mechatronic/robotic systems due to their
high flexibility and adaptability.
11. 3.Electromagnetic actuators
Electromagnetic actuators operating principle is based
on magnetic interaction force between the permanent
magnet and the electromagnetic field generated in
conductive material.
There are few types of electromagnetic drives.
a.Levitation micro-actuators (LMA)
b.Polymer based electromagnetic actuators
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Figure 6. Levitating
microactuators: a) acting on
the environment
Figure 7. Cross-sectional view of
polymer based EM actuator:a)
with moving permanent magnet
12. 4.Electrostatic actuators
• Electrostatic control is based on the principle of
Coulomb force, which acts on the surface, and
greatly increases with decreasing distance between
a pair of counter-electrodes.
• Depending on the electrodes’ arrangement, these
drives can be divided into a parallel plate, comb
drive, vertical comb drive, and scratch-drive.
Application
• Electromagnetic actuators are used in various
devices: from industrial robotics to the automotive
and biomedical industries.
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Figure. 8. Operating principle of
parallel plate drive
13. 5.Shape memory alloy (SMA) based actuators
• Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) is a smart material that can remember its
original shape at low temperatures and return to a pre-deformed shape by
heatingOne of the types of SMA actuators can be the SMA spring, which
works on the principle of tense muscles .
• This kind of SMA actuator achieves a displacement of high force and
rapid response.
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Figure 9. SMA longitudinal drive
14. 5.Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)
Applications
SMA drives to be adapted for various purposes, such as soft robotics
robotic surgical systems and grippers . Along with other control
methods, the shape memory alloy (SMA) drives have been used to
control many devices, including micropositioning.
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15. Conclusion
• The overview of mechanical methods of robotic micromanipulation
revealed a wide area of applications and dimensional range of the
drives.
• The recent progress in micro technologies and manufacturing of small-
size structures, such as MEMS technology, allows to create accurate
and fast micro- and nano- drives.
• The actuators, used in microrobotics for object micromanipulation are
classified by physical properties and operating principles. This creates
the possibilities for future developers and users of this equipment.
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