PurposeUntil now, the size range of most machines for precision assembly was much larger than the size of the pieces to be handled or the necessary workspace. Flexibly scalable miniaturised production machines can help to develop much more flexible micro production systems. The paper aims to describe the development of a micro‐parallel‐SCARA robot adapted in size to MEMS products.Design/methodology/approachThe robot consists of a miniaturised parallel structure, which provides a high level of accuracy in a workspace of 60 × 45 × 20 mm3. It has a base area of 130 × 170 mm2 and offers four degrees of freedom.FindingsBased on simulations, the degree of miniaturisation in terms of a smaller structure and a high level of accuracy is determined. The results show that a miniaturised hybrid robot with a plane parallel structure driven by miniaturised zero‐backlash gears and electric motors can reach a theoretical repeatability better than 1 μm.Research limitations/implicationsThe first prototype provides good prospects that the concept will be used in a visionary desktop‐factory. As regards the accuracy parameters of the robot, there will be further efforts to optimise the robot's structure and drive mechanism.Practical implicationsThe repeatability of this first prototype is better than 14 μm. A better stiffness of optimised micro‐gears and joints of the structure will guarantee a much better repeatability.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates that the Parvus is one of the smallest industrial robots for micro assembly equipped with a full range of functionalities like conventional industrial robots.

In this paper the assembly of a novel micro-scale coordinate measuring machine (CMM) probe is considered. A working micro-scale CMM probe is assembled from a MEMS device and a stylus produced by micro-electro-discharge machining. The production technique of the micro-scale parts is discussed and two methods for assembly are presented.

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Abstract:The paper describes the development of a micro-parallel-SCARA robot adapted in size to MEMS products. The degree of miniaturization is optimized concerning a smaller structure but high accuracy in a workspace dimensioned to chip card size. The robot supports the mostly used four degrees of freedom with a base area of less than 150 x 150 mm2. It is the result of a cooperative project between the Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology at the Technical University of Braunschweig and Micromotion GmbH. This company is an innovative manufacturer of miniaturized zero-backlash gears and actors, which are used as main drives of the robot.

This paper deals with the requirements for and the realization of a miniaturized parallel kinematic robot named APIS, which is driven by low-cost piezoelectric motors and thus designed for low-cost applications. After the need and potentials of this concept have been clarified, a detailed description of the development process is given. In doing so, kinematic aspects as well as the driving concept and the robot control, including the development of a suitable motor control with power stage, are described. In addition to the first functional prototype some performance measurements are presented, which show that the robot is able to obtain a repeatability of less than 34 µm. To provide better results, possibilities for future developments are identified, including optimized sensor feedback and motion control.