Development of force-feedback controlled Nafion micromanipulators

The ability to manipulation of biological cells while having reflective-force information from the cells is a key technology necessary for many new applications in Bio-MEMS, but is currently lacking in all cellular manipulators. We will report on our preliminary experimental work in using an Ionic Conducting Polymer Film (ICPF) to develop a biological cell robotic gripper with force sensing capability. ICPF actuators are able to give large deflection with small input voltage (~5V), and also able to give relatively large output voltage due to deflection by a mechanical forces, thus are investigated as a possible material to make force-feedback controlled cellular manipulators in our work. A laser micromachining process is introduced to fabricate arrays of ICPF griping devices, which can be potentially integrated onto a substrate to develop a micro manipulation system. Individual multi-finger grippers with dimensions of 200μm x 200μm x 3000μm for each finger were realized. We will report on the design, fabrication procedures, and operating performance of these micro-grippers. Further development in the reduction of size of these actuators will enable effective force-feedback control of underwater micro objects and lead to new frontiers in cellular manipulation.