Manipulation of submillimeter-sized electronic parts using force control and vision-based position control

This paper presents manipulation of small electronic parts whose size is submillimeter order or smaller. For assembly of small parts which are components of electronic devices, we need two key technologies: accurate position control and force control in handling them. In this paper, we utilize a four-degree-of-freedom assembly robot with a camera for position control. This vision-based assembly system gives us positioning accuracy of micrometer order. We also control the pressing load of the robot in pick-and-place of small objects indirectly with mechanical springs and a displacement sensor by changing resilience force of springs actively. We execute some experiments to handle small electronic parts using above-mentioned active force control and vision-based position control.