System design for cooperative control of arrayed microactuators

Abstract

A system design is presented with the aim of controlling many microactuators as autonomous distributed micromachines (ADM). ADM consist of many micro cells which are smart enough to control their own motions and to cooperate with each other. A conveyance system in a plane is selected as an example of ADM. We have developed a practical design of ADM composed of many micro cells integrated with actuators, sensors and circuits which can be fabricated by IC-compatible micromachining. The behavior of the system is examined by simulation on a computer model. Fluidic micro actuator array for a conveyor has also been fabricated