Cédric Clevy Franche-Comté University FEMTO-ST Institute FRANCE

Advances in precision and ultimate miniaturization of robotics with integrated actuation for industrial and environmental applications

Microrobots with embedded actuation, also often named tethered microrobots, recently demonstrated huge interest to achieve characterization, manipulation and assembly of microscale objects (i.e. sub-mm size). These new/innovative microrobots especially provide unique tools and methods enabling locally touching or deforming matter in a controlled and versatile way, well beyond human’s dexterity limits. In this talk, I will present our recent research progress related to two main limitations of this type of robots: firstly, I will present the development of tethered robots capable of performing tasks with a precision of a few nanometers and examples of their key interests for industrial and environmental applications. Secondly, the main challenges and perspectives for the ultimate miniaturization of integrated-actuation robots will be addressed with first achievements whose typical dimensions are as small as 100 µm.