There is a growing interest worldwide in the concept and possible applications of miniature, micro and even nano scale devices, including robots. This interest is motivated by the widespread perception that advances in microfabrication technology can lead, together with the progresses of robotics research, to the development of autonomous or tele-operated machines capable of carrying out useful tasks at a miniature, micro and perhaps nano scale, thus substantially extending the range of application of current machines and possibly leading to a technological breakthrough whose effects could be comparable with those determined by the micro-electronic revolution. As is often the case for new areas of application, and despite the increasing popularity of the field, the very same notions of 'micromachine' and of 'microrobot' have not yet been defined clearly. In fact, such terms as 'microsystems', 'microelectromechanical systems', 'micromechatronics', 'micromechanisms', 'micromachines' and 'microrobots' are used almost like synonyms to indicate a wide range of devices whose functioning is related to the 'fuzzy' concept of operation at 'small' scale. The first serious attempt to provide some guidelines for research in this area has been made in Japan: during the preparatory phase for the 'Large Scale Project on Micromachine Technology', the Japanese MITI has promoted the activity of panels of experts, who were asked to provide definitions, identify application domains, and highlight theoretical knowledge and technologies which are necessary to implement real devices. The results of this analysis are presented in papers and reports which represent perhaps the most accurate and comprehensive discussion so far available for approaching the field of micromachines and microrobots.

Inspec keywords: microfabrication; microrobots; industrial robots

Other keywords: teleoperated machines; microrobotics; microfabrication technology; nano scale devices; micromachine; miniature

Subjects: Robotics