This paper presents a new method to optimally design active compliant mechanisms. It is partly based on a flexible building blocks method called FlexIn, which had been developed at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). This method uses an evolutionary algorithm approach to optimize a truss-like structure, made of an assembly of passive and active piezoelectric building blocks from two spec...

During micro-assembly processes, surface forces influence the behavior of micro-objects more than volumic forces. Generally contacts happen between a microgripper and a micro-objet or a substrate and a micro-object. The pull-off force which represents the force required to break a contact is one of the predominant problem in micro-assembly. Now, current force measurements are mostly focused on ...

The adhesion between a micro/nano-object and a microgripper end-effector is an important problem in micromanipulation. Canceling or reducing this force is a great challenge. This force is directly linked to the surface chemical structure of the object and the gripper. We propose to predict this force between a structuring surface and a micro-object with a multisphere van der Waals force model. ...