II-EN: Microgripper Research Infrastructure

这笔赠款将支持开发一个制造和测试设施，用于非常小的机器人微型抓取器，可以抓取少量生物材料并测量重要的物理特性。 例如，一些要制造的夹具将足够小，以抓住单个红细胞（4微米），并足够敏感，以测量其刚度。 对硬度的了解可用于诊断没有疫苗的疾病（疟疾、登革热、基库贡亚热等），如果不诊断，这些疾病是非常危险的。 除了有助于诊断外，机械特性及其随时间变化的知识还可以为指导新疫苗的开发提供线索。 这项研究将在位于新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基的新墨西哥州大学（UNM）的微夹钳实验室进行，在那里它将使UNM的教师和学生能够探索微操作的新前沿。 计划中的研究将利用离子聚合物金属复合材料（IPMC），这是一种高度活跃的致动器，在低电压下表现出非常大的变形。虽然这种材料在越来越小的尺度上继续具有电活性，但一个挑战是以可重复的方式切割IPMC材料以形成微夹持器的指状物。由该资助支持的Raptor II YAG激光器将用于从IPMC材料片上切割微指。第二个挑战是测量微型手指产生的力，以了解最适合特定应用的手指形状。COMSOL多物理模拟软件将用于验证支持原型开发所需的工程模型。

This grant will support the development of a fabrication and testing facility for very small robotic micro-grippers that can grasp tiny quantities of bio-materials and measure important physical properties. For example, some of the grippers to be made will be small enough to grasp a single red blood cell (4 microns) and sensitive enough to measure its stiffness. Knowledge of the stiffness can be used to diagnose diseases (malaria, Dengue Fever, Chikugunya Fever, and others) for which vaccines do not exist and which are very dangerous if not diagnosed. In addition to helping with diagnosis, knowledge of mechanical properties and how they change over time can provide clues to guide the development of new vaccines. The research will be conducted at the Microgripper Laboratory at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it will enable UNM faculty and students to explore new frontiers in micromanipulation. The planned research will exploit ionic polymer metal composite (IPMCs), which are highly active actuators that show very large deformation in the presence of low applied voltage. While this material continues to be electroactive at smaller and smaller scales, one challenge is to cut the IPMC material in a repeatable fashion to form the fingers of the microgripper. The Raptor II YAG laser supported by this grant will be used to cut microfingers from a sheet of IPMC material. A second challenge will be measuring the force that a microfinger generates to understand the finger shapes that are most suitable for specific applications. COMSOL multi-physical simulation software will be used to validate the engineering models needed to support prototype development.