Embedded Piezo-actuation System for Automatic Motion Control of a Fleet of Miniature Robots Operating on a Synchronized Vibrating Platform

A piezo-actuation system based on a three-legged pyramidal configuration with the apex pointing upward and designed to be embedded onto miniature instrumented robots conceived for operations at the nanometer-scale is briefly introduced. The piezo-actuation system is designed to provide small increments required to position an embedded scanning probe microscope (SPM) tip within the range of the instrument. The deflection amplitude of the piezo-actuators provides the SPM tip with a dynamic range appropriate to achieve atomic resolution. The locomotion system operates at high resonant frequencies in order to achieve higher displacement speeds through a larger number of steps executed per second. To achieve high-throughput operations throughout the platform, the displacement speed of the robots become a critical issue since no SPM-based operations can be performed during travel. To provide a supplemental force, a software-controlled vibrating platform is used to increase the displacement speed of each robot. Synchronization between the piezo-actuation system of each robot and the vibrating platform is done through software interrupts generated by an embedded inertial micro-switch.