This paper presents the automated parallel noncontact manipulation of glass beads ranging from 30 up to 300 μm in size under water. Non-contact micromanipulation is performed by generating controllable laser-induced thermocapillary flows that are capable of dragging the beads. Automated manipulation process is achieved with visual servoing in order to accurately manipulate the beads in a parallel and high-speed manner. Image correlation allowed to detect the bead positions and to provide these positions to a mirror scanner that addressed the IR laser beam at a certain position from the bead. By scanning the laser beam from one bead to another, automated parallel manipulation of beads at speeds in the range of mm·s-1 was demonstrated.

This work describes an automated opto-fluidic system for parallel non-contact manipulation of microcomponents. The strong dynamics of laser-driven thermocapillary flows were used to drag microcomponents at high speeds. High-speed flows allowed to manipulate micro-objects in a parallel manner only using a single laser and a mirror scanner. An automated process was implemented using visual servoing with a high-speed camera in order to achieve accurately parallel manipulation. Automated manipulation of two glass beads of 30 up to 300 μm in diameter moving in parallel at speeds in the range of mm/s was demonstrated.

Los exoesqueletos robóticos son estructuras mecánicas con sensores y actuadores que se colocan sobre el cuerpo de una persona para que la asista en sus movimientos o aumente sus capacidades físicas. Es decir, se pueden utilizar en rehabilitación física para que personas con discapacidad puedan realizar una terapia a través de un movimiento repetitivo, o trabajadores puedan incrementar su capacidad de carga de objetos sin realizar un esfuerzo adicional y disminuyendo la fatiga muscular. Los exoesqueletos robóticos convencionales están hechos de estructuras mecánicas a base materiales rígidos como plástico o metales, lo que genera falta de comodidad y de adaptación al cuerpo de una persona, y además son pesados. Estos exoesqueletos son accionados por motores eléctricos en cada articulación. Una alternativa a estos exoesqueletos rígidos son los exoesqueletos flexibles que su...

Los exoesqueletos robóticos son estructuras mecánicas con sensores y actuadores que se colocan sobre el cuerpo de una persona para que la asista en sus movimientos o aumente sus capacidades físicas. Es decir, se pueden utilizar en rehabilitación física para que personas con discapacidad puedan realizar una terapia a través de un movimiento repetitivo, o trabajadores puedan incrementar su capacidad de carga de objetos sin realizar un esfuerzo adicional y disminuyendo la fatiga muscular. Los exoesqueletos robóticos convencionales están hechos de estructuras mecánicas a base materiales rígidos como plástico o metales, lo que genera falta de comodidad y de adaptación al cuerpo de una persona, y además son pesados. Estos exoesqueletos son accionados por motores eléctricos en cada articulación. Una alternativa a estos exoesqueletos rígidos son los exoesqueletos flexibles que su...

Nowadays, micromanipulation has an important role for assembly of micro-electromechanical components, because it enables to assemble very small components with different material properties and geometrical shapes in order to create complex multifunctional systems. Also, micromanipulation has contributed significantly in the field of medicine enabling manipulation of cells, molecules and bio-particles to study their behavior. Thus, a micromanipulation method that could move biological objects and microcomponents in an accurate, fast and multiple manner is needed. The preferred methods in the microscale are non-contact methods because they allow manipulating objects without damage or contamination. In this scope, microflows are very good candidates to drag micro-objects according to the flows direction and velocity, producing a drag force over the objects. In this research work, a study, t...

Inertial kinetics and kinematics have substantial influences on human biomechanical function. A new algorithm for Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)-based motion tracking is presented in this work. The primary aims of this paper are to combine recent developments in improved biosensor technology with mainstream motion-tracking hardware to measure the overall performance of human movement based on joint axis-angle representations of limb rotation. This work describes an alternative approach to representing three-dimensional rotations using a normalized vector around which an identified joint angle defines the overall rotation, rather than a traditional Euler angle approach. Furthermore, IMUs allow for the direct measurement of joint angular velocities, offering the opportunity to increase the accuracy of instantaneous axis of rotation estimations. Although the axis-angle representation requi...