Abstract
In the micro scale, releasing micro-objects is a long standing challenge in contact manipulation due to strong adhesion forces. This paper presents a dynamic releasing method using vibration of the end effector, which is generated by the PZT actuator of the parallel mechanism. In order to achieve precise positioning, we focused on the frequency of the vibration while keeping the amplitude small. Moreover, we looked for the minimum frequency of vibration, because frequencies smaller than the ones required for releasing the object cannot detach objects; and larger frequencies lead to a large motion of the object at the moment of the release. By using this method, we can easily release various types of micro-objects, such as microbeads of different sizes in various environments e.g. air, water, cultured medium, and biological cells inside a cultured medium.
