Design and Evaluation of an Active Micro-Scale Ball and Socket Joint

Mrinalini, R Sri Muthu and Jayanth, G R (2017) Design and Evaluation of an Active Micro-Scale Ball and Socket Joint. In: JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, 26 (4). pp. 886-894.

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Abstract

Micro-scale articulated joints enable development of advanced micro-manipulators and micro-robots. This paper describes the design, fabrication, and evaluation of a novel active micro-scale ball and socket joint. The ball is chosen to be a magnetic micro-particle of spherical morphology. A micro-pit that seats the ball along with a liquid meniscus based micro-gripper together act as the socket. Application of an external magnetic field enables actively orienting the ball in any desired direction. A simplified analysis is performed to describe the functioning of the joint. Subsequently, the joint is fabricated and experimentally demonstrated to achieve orientation changes from 0 degrees to 90 degrees about X-axis and Y-axis. Finally, the joint is integrated on to the probe of an atomic force microscope (AFM), thereby enabling active re-orientation of the probe tip in three dimensions. The probe is employed to image a standard sample, and the resulting image is shown to be free of artifacts and identical to that obtained using a conventional AFM probe. This demonstrates the ability of the joint to firmly grip the AFM tip during imaging.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC, 445 HOES LANE, PISCATAWAY, NJ 08855-4141 USA
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Instrumentation Appiled Physics
Date Deposited:	09 Sep 2017 04:41
Last Modified:	09 Sep 2017 04:41
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/57766

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