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Solving the non-linear motion in a micromanipulation system powered by thermocapillary flows

par Piñan Basualdo, Franco ;Bolopion, Aude;Gauthier, Michaël;Lambert, Pierre ;Piñan Basualdo, Franco
Référence IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, page (1-6)
Publication Publié, 2023-06-21

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

Non-contact micromanipulation tools have emerged as a promising solution for manipulating small components. However, they are mainly based on non-linear actuation principles requiring ad-hoc control strategies. This letter proposes non-linear control laws to actuate a non-contact manipulation system based on thermocapillary flows for the manipulation of micro-objects on an air-water interface. The actuation system consists of steering a laser beam to locally heat the liquid surface, thus inducing a thermocapillary flow. The resulting flow propels floating objects away from the laser spot with a significant velocity (up to ten body-length per second) but the behavior is highly non-linear. Notably, small errors in the laser positioning are amplified and give place to non-linear motion. Therefore, we developed a control method consisting of a non-linear position controller including a laser position observer. We achieve stable 2D position control in this non-linear system, with a precision of 0.3 \, on a 0.5 mm object.