Recognizing and tracking of 3D-shaped micro parts using multiple visions for micromanipulation

Presents a visual feedback system that controls a micromanipulator using multiple microscopic vision information. The micromanipulation stations basically have an optical microscope. However the single field-of-view of optical microscope essentially limits the workspace of the micromanipulator and low depth-of-field makes it difficult to handle 3D-shaped micro objects. The system consists of a stereoscopic microscope, three CCD cameras, the micromanipulator and personal computer. The use of a stereoscopic microscope which has long working distance and high depth-of-field with selective field-of-view improves the recognizability of 3D-shaped micro objects and provides a method for overcoming several essential limitations in micromanipulation. Thus, visual feedback information is very important in handling micro objects for overcoming those limitations and provides a mean for the closed-loop operation. We propose this method for recognition and tracking of 3D-shaped micro parts and generating motion commands for the micromanipulator.