Caging micromanipulation for automated microassembly

This paper introduces the concept of caging micromanipulation for use in automated open loop microassembly tasks. Utilizing a caging transport motion primitive along with rotational and translation primitives, we demonstrate full control of the state of the part. Additionally, a framework for planar microassembly task planning is provided based on the A* algorithm. It is used to determine the optimal assembly sequences and part starting locations in the workspace. We also describe a test-bed suitable for planar micro, meso-scale, and nano-scale manipulation and assembly tasks and present simulation and experimental results of this work.