Separable water supply machine for hydraulic-driven micro device

A hydraulically driven microdevice that we developed has both high-precision sensing and high-resolution positioning. A water-supply machine supplies and extracts water to and from the hydraulically driven microdevice, an end effector, for micromanipulation. Controlled by the water-supply machine, the hydraulically driven microdevice handles objects and measures the amount of force acting on the end effector by measuring changes in pressure. Our previous device can measure small forces acting on the end effector. However, it is difficult to position the device when the gain in the measured force is high because the end effector moves a large amount in response to a small amount of liquid supplied, and the positioning resolution decreases. This makes the device unsuitable for micro-manipulation. High-precision sensing and high-resolution positioning have a trade-off relationship. To solve this problem, we propose a new machine called a separated water-supply machine. The part that supplies water and the part that measures pressure are separated through a flow channel. Each part is its own cylinder. The cross section of the part that supplies water is large; the cross section of the part that measures pressure is small. This enables the machine to supply water to the hydraulically driven microdevice with precision while also being highly sensitive to gain in measured force. This report describes the separated water-supply machine that we developed and the results of our evaluation of its sensing precision and positioning resolution.