Hybrid assembly for ultra-precise manufacturing

Abstract

This paper presents a European integrated project in the domain of innovative hybrid assembly - the combination of self-assembly and robotics. Robotics allows for high precision and flexibility with full control of the assembly process. Self-assembly, on the other hand, offers massively parallel, unsupervised processing and thus provides high throughputs that cannot be reached with simple robotics alone. The combination of these approaches thus offers robust, high-speed and high-precision assembly methodologies. Different approaches to achieve reliable self-assembly are investigated, such as chemical or physical surface modification and structuring and field induced assembly. These techniques are combined with high performance robotic tools such as precise manipulators, innovative vision, force sensing and system control. Selected innovative demonstrator systems prove the industrial impact of these developments. Focus is put on assembly and processing of small parts with dimensions below 1 mm: MEMS parts, RFID tags, cells, optical systems and nanowires. © 2010 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.