Self-assembly of micro parts by controlling the environmental parameters

Abstract

We propose a novel design for self-assembly with milli-scaled components and investigate a relation between the yield rate and environmental parameters such as the external force using different binding faces. In the first experiment, we demonstrate a production of a distributed micro-motor array by a self-assembly. By giving a vibration to the substrate, columnar iron parts with 1 mm length and 0.5 mm diameter are trapped in the holes that are stable sites in terms of gravitational potentials at the yield rate of more than 80%. We then achieved to drive the micro-motor array selectively. In the second experiment, we demonstrate a self-assembly of 3D structures with two kinds of parts. We use a surface tension as a binding force, and control the orientation and the selectivity of binding by a triangular copper binding face and a complementary shape of component. Our experiments show the promising results for applications of the proposed self-assembly systems in micro-machine production.