A video by Cédric Duverney | BIROMED-Lab | The MIRACLE Project | Department of Biomedical Engineering | University of Basel.

Devices all around us are getting smaller and smaller - for example electronics in smartphones and laptops, or components in medical devices and implants, such as those developed within the MIRACLE project. When these devices are mass-produces, they can be assembled very efficiently with automated production lines. During development however, relying on such installations would be way too expensive, which is why miniature prototype devices often need to be assembled by hand. For very small and delicate parts, this can be highly challenging. A possible solution is to use miniature robots to help assemble the miniature parts. These robots can be connected to haptic interfaces, which allow the user to control their motion, while feeling the interaction forces perceived by the robot, leading to a natural and intuitive manipulation experience.

In this video, we present the core concept of teleoperation, exemplified on the assembly of a miniature robot by a robot arm controlled through a haptic interface. The main benefit demonstrated is the possibility to include motion scaling, allowing the user to comfortably perform large motions, which are then mimicked by the robot on a much smaller scale, vastly increasing manipulation accuracy. Further benefits of teleoperated assembly are the possibility to apply tremor suppression to user inputs, and to apply force scaling, allowing the user to feel minuscule forces sensed by the miniature robot.

Research project:
Robot-Assisted Micro-Assembly System for Miniature Prototypes

Project lead:
Cédric Duverney, Dr. Nicolas Gerig, Prof. Dr. Georg Rauter
BIROMED-Lab, University of Basel, Switzerland

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