II-EN: Microgripper Research Infrastructure

II-EN：微夹钳研究基础设施

• 批准号: 1404909
• 负责人: Ron Lumia
• 金额: $ 17.59万
• 依托单位: University of New Mexico
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-01 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1404909&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: II; EN; Microgripper; Research; Infrastructure

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.

该赠款将支持针对非常小的机器人微磨碎器的制造和测试设施的开发，这些机器人微型牵引器可以掌握少量的生物材料并测量重要的物理特性。 例如，某些要制作的握手足够小，可以抓住一个红细胞（4微米），并且敏感以测量其刚度。 了解僵硬的知识可用于诊断不存在疫苗的疾病（疟疾，登革热，chikugunya发烧等），如果不诊断，它们非常危险。 除了帮助诊断，机械性能的了解以及它们如何随着时间的推移而变化，还可以提供指导新疫苗开发的线索。 这项研究将在新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基的新墨西哥大学（UNM）的微型机车实验室进行，在那里它将使UNM教职员工和学生能够探索微观流动的新边界。 计划的研究将利用离子聚合物金属复合材料（IPMC），它们是高度活跃的致动器，在存在低施加电压的情况下，它们显示出非常大的变形。尽管该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，以形成微型机器人的手指。该赠款支持的Raptor II YAG激光将用于从一张IPMC材料中剪裁微芯。第二个挑战将是测量微芬生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。