An xy/spl theta/ actuator using piezoelectric and electromagnetic actuators

Microactuators with a micro tool and a micro sensor can provide a lot of benefits to precise engineering. Precise positioning is needed in precision engineering. A system with multi degrees of freedom is required for industrial application. A system with multi degrees of freedom is composed of some systems with one degree of freedom. Therefore, the system becomes complicated and large. We propose a new actuator which can move in x, y and /spl theta/ directions by the extension of piezoelectric actuators and the adhesion of electromagnetic actuators. The proposed actuator realizes high resolution by using the piezoelectric actuator. We describe the structure and principle of the proposed actuator. In order to demonstrate the proposed actuator, we constructed the actuator and measured the velocity in x and /spl theta/ direction. The measured fastest velocity in x direction was 190 /spl mu/m/s and that in /spl theta/ direction was 9.5 mrad/s. The resolution in x direction was obtained to be 0.24 /spl mu/m and that in /spl theta/ direction was 0.1 mrad. We are now improving the resolution of the proposed actuator.