State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Dec 23;12(51):57587-57597. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c17518. Epub 2020 Dec 10.
Industrial robots have been widely used for manufacturing and assembly in factories. However, at the microscale, most assembly technologies can only pattern the micromodules together loosely and can hardly combine the micromodules to directly form an entity that cannot be easily dispersed. In this study, surface bubbles are made to function as microrobots on a chip. These microrobots can move, fix, lift, and drop microparts and integratively assemble them into a tightly connected entity. As an example, the assembly of a pair of microparts with dovetails is considered. A jacklike bubble robot is used to lift and drop a micropart with a tail, whereas a mobile microrobot is used to push the other micropart with the corresponding socket to the proper position so that the tail can be inserted into the socket. The assembled microparts with the tail-socket joint can move as an entity without separation. Similarly, different types of parts are integratively assembled to form various structures such as gears, snake-shaped chains, and vehicles, which are then driven by bubble microrobots to perform different forms of movement. This assembly technology is simple and efficient and is expected to play an important role in micro-operation, modular assembly, and tissue engineering.
工业机器人已广泛应用于工厂的制造和装配。然而，在微观尺度上，大多数装配技术只能将微模块松散地组合在一起，很难将微模块直接组合成一个不能轻易分散的实体。在这项研究中，表面气泡被用作芯片上的微机器人。这些微机器人可以移动、固定、提升和放下微部件，并将它们集成地组装成一个紧密连接的实体。例如，考虑一对燕尾榫微部件的装配。使用类似千斤顶的气泡机器人来提升和放下带有燕尾榫的微部件，而移动的微机器人则用于将具有相应插座的另一个微部件推到适当的位置，以便燕尾榫可以插入插座中。带有燕尾榫接头的组装微部件可以作为一个整体移动而不会分离。同样，不同类型的部件被集成地组装在一起，形成各种结构，如齿轮、蛇形链和车辆，然后由气泡微机器人驱动，以执行不同形式的运动。这种装配技术简单高效，有望在微操作、模块装配和组织工程中发挥重要作用。
