Dual Stage Options for Interface Designs Suitable for Haptic Interaction at the Micro-Nano Scales

Abstract

Abstract. Direct, manual interaction with the micro/nano scales is not straightforward because the objects at this scale obey unituitive physics. For instance, in ambient conditions at the micro-scale, capillary forces dominate over many other forces. When the scale becomes smaller, Brownian motion becomes pervasive. Haptic interfaces give us the option to bring the experience of this physics with the direct reach of the human sensorimotor capabilities. To cope with the limitations of conventional force feedback devices, we present here two alternative dual-stage designs suitable to address the needs of the interaction with the micro/nano scales. The first one features very low apparent inertia, a large dynamics range and a wide bandwidth. This properties are obtained by coupling a large actuator to a small one via a viscous coupler. Feedback can then be used to achieve nearly perfect transparency. The second is a conventional force feedback device augmented with a tactile transducer. The two channels are frequency compensated to achieved a flat response fro DC to one kHz.