Micro mechatronics and micro actuators

Micro mechatronics is the synergetic integration of both mechanical and electronic systems based on scaling effects in the micro world. A micro mechatronics system is expected to be the key component of the mechanical system, such as in electronic automotive technologies. Micro mechatronics requires the organic combination of micro devices such as micro processor, micro sensor, and micro actuator. Among the micro devices, the micro processor and micro sensor have been widely employed in advanced mechatronics products, but not the micro actuator. This paper surveys the state of the art of micro mechatronics and deals with micro actuators as new devices for micro mechatronics and advanced mechatronics, which play an important role in today's integrated mechanical products. Since micro actuators are still under development, the authors focus on micro actuators for further research and development in this paper.