Journal of Micromechatronics, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 75–101 (2006)  VSP 2006. Also available online - www.vsppub.com Controlled rolling of microobjects for autonomous manipulation D. SINAN HALIYO ∗ , FABIEN DIONNET and STÉPHANE REGNIER Laboratoire de Robotique de Paris, Univ. Paris 6 CNRS, BP 61, 92265 Fontenay aux Roses, France Abstract—This paper presents our work in developing an autonomous micromanipulation system. The originality of our system is that it takes advantage of adhesion forces to grip micro-objects using an AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) probe. A theoretical analysis of rolling conditions is carried out in order to achieve precise release of an object picked-up by adhesion. Vision control, based on the specificities of optical microscopy, and force control, based on the analysis of the AFM probe, are established. Experiments validate the employed techniques and the proposed manipulation mode. Keywords: Micromanipulation; microphysics; adhesion forces; rolling; sliding; force control; vision control. 1. INTRODUCTION Due to recent development of MEMS and biotechnology, there is a great de- mand for original micromanipulation techniques. Many approaches have been pro- posed to manipulate microscopic objects. The principal obstacle specific to this scale is that the force of gravity becomes negligible in comparison with adhesion forces [1]. Consequently, any microsystem based on the miniaturisation of con- ventional macroscopic robots encounters a lot of difficulties in releasing a gripped object as it adheres to the gripper [2, 3]. Complex techniques, such as electrostatic detachment, are, thus, necessary to reduce adhesion [4]. Whatever the employed technique (with contact or not) and the environment (in air, liquid or vacuum) [5], due to specific mechanical and physical laws which govern the micro-world, micromanipulation systems often suffer from a lack of reproducibility. This is why micromanipulation tasks need complex and robust control based on sensor feedback. ∗ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: haliyo@robot.jussieu.fr