Vision System for Micromanipulation

Recently, in connection with down-sizing of manipulated objects in Fields such as biology and medical treatment, the establishment of dexterous micromanipulation is crucial. Dexterous micromanipulation using a two finger microhand with 12-DOF and an optical microscope has been developed for applications such as assembling micromachines and manipulating cells and microbes. Basic experiments showed two problems, a more compact hand mechanism fit in the limited microscope workspace and less focusing work for an operator. A 3-DOF parallel mechanism is designed for a new finger module. To decrease focusing during manipulation, an autofocusing and tracking mechanism is developed using microscope image data. The focusing algorithm uses color and brightness to make tracking smooth. Experiments include tracking a moving object and recognizing and localizing a target in a focal plane.