Development of Micro-force Sensors for Testing Applications in Micro- and Nanorobotics

Micro- and Nanorobotics are relatively new but challenging fields in the broad field of robotics. There is more to them than just pick'n'place. They are required to be capable of positioning, characterizing, and assembling objects by means of joining. In this paper, we show the development and use of micro-force sensors for micro- and nanorobots in testing applications at the authors' research institutes. Three different systems are presented. First, a sensor dedicated to the measurement of injection forces during a cell injection is described. Second, directly written strain gages for the application on arbitrary surfaces are shown. Third, a tactile sensor is presented which is used during an assembly process. These are just three examples of the vast field of possible micro-force measurement principles and systems used in micro- and nanorobotics.