All fingers, no thumbs

Mass production of micro-electromechanical and nano-electromechanical systems could be much easier in the future, with a device that uses tiny, agile fingers that can grip, lift and assemble components in a controlled, co-ordinated way.

Engineers at the

have developed the 'micromanipulator station' — just one centimetre square — which can be used in potential micro-factories.

Within the device's tiny chip-like station, four micro fingers can grasp and move micron-sized particles on command. Traditional micro tweezer-like devices can only grip and hold small particles in place but to manipulate them requires accessories, and this makes the process cumbersome.

To solve this, the researchers developed a device that mimics the functionality of human fingers. It has multiple, co-ordinated fingers that grip a particle and take it from one position to another within a small area.

At present a major limiting factor in the development of micro-scale machines is the assembly process. Manual assembly is prohibitively expensive and the required precision, as well as the operator stress and eye strain associated with assembling such minute parts under a microscope, makes it impractical.