Author(s)

W. Liu, P. Will & M. Pottenger

Abstract

An Intelligent Motion Surface (IMS) consisting of an array of micro-electrical- mechanical (MEM) manipulators has been designed and simulated for applica- tion in micro-assembly. The array imparts forces on objects being carried on its surface. The appropriate choice of force fields is shown to cause parts placed on the array to be moved in manners that are useful and appropriate to assembly operation. A simulator associated with a user interface was built to explore the practicability of programming a miniature assembly bench. A computational geometry approach was used for modeling and implementation of the simulator in order to model both the operation of the motion surface and to support the user in programming the surface to operate in a specific manner. Mathematical simplifications were applied to speed up the execution of the

Keywords