Human-guided Optical Manipulation of Multiple Microscopic Objects

Abstract

Existing control systems for optical manipulation of multiple micro-objects do not allow users to interact with the systems during manipulation to deal with unexpected events, while ensuring stability of the overall control systems. In this paper, we propose a robotic control technique for human-guided optical manipulation of multiple micro-objects using robotic tweezers. Humans, when necessary, are able to interact or intervene with an automated optical manipulation system in a stable manner, and thus guiding a group of micro-objects to be manipulated towards a desired region while ensuring collision avoidance during manipulation. Both the ability of humans, in term of decision making, when needed, and the advantages of an automated optical manipulation system which provides precise and productive manipulation of micro-objects, are consolidated into one single technique. A theoretical foundation is developed and investigated to achieve the control objective. Experimental results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control technique.