MEMS conveyance system for pneumatic two-dimensional manipulation based on autonomous distributed systems

We developed a pneumatic conveyance system that consists of an array of micro air valves fabricated by MEMS technology. The array of 560 micro actuators successfully conveyed a small silicon chip, which was 3 mm/spl times/3 mm/spl times/100 /spl mu/m in size and 2 mg in weight. The chip was transferred to the force equilibrium point, which was generated by the arrayed actuators. In addition, we proposed a control method for the system; in this method, the equilibrium point is moved in order to transfer the object on it We also conveyed a small plastic chip, which was 5 mm /spl times/ 5 mm /spl times/ 1 mm in size and 38 mg in weight. In this case, efficient conveyance was achieved by detecting the object edge and applying tilted air jets to it. A full control of two-dimensional conveyance is under investigation. The control circuit chip was developed; the circuit is an array of cells that have optical sensors and processors. Distributed information processing by the cooperation of cells enabled detection of the shape of the conveyed object. Our future goal is to assemble the conveyance system with the circuit, and to realize the autonomous distributed micro conveyance system.