Novel design of a three DOFs MEMS-based precision manipulator

Abstract

This paper presents a novel design of three degrees of freedom (DOFs) MEMS-based precision manipulator. The purpose of the manipulator is to position a microscope tool on the work plate doing small movement tasks. A parallel kinematic mechanism with three legs is used to convert the motion of longitudinal comb-drives into three direction translations at the end-effector. Each leg has three joints (a prismatic joint and two universal joints) which consists the basic structure of the design. The manipulator design has a high actuation flexibility combined with a relatively high stiffness due to its structure and materials. A theoretical calculation is revealed to show inverse kinematics. The fabrication of the manipulator is also presented in order to demonstrate the possibility of producing the manipulator.