Tele-nanorobotics using atomic force microscope

Abstract

A tele-nanorobotics system using an atomic force microscope (AFM) as the nanorobot has been proposed. Modeling and control of the AFM cantilever, and modeling of nanometer scale forces have been realized for telemanipulation applications. Besides 3-D virtual reality visual feedback in the user interface, a 1 DOF haptic device has been constructed for nano scale haptic sensing. For feeling the nano forces, a bilateral teleoperation control system with virtual impedance approach has been introduced. Initial experiments and simulations on the AFM and teleoperation system show that the system can be utilized for different tele-nanomanipulation applications such as 2-D nano particle assembly or biological object manipulation.