Micromanipulators composed ofHinges andLinks

Inthepresent paper, three kindsofmanipulators are shownand theircharacteristics arediscussed. Their manipulators areasfollows, (1)a micromanipulator with flexural hinges forhandling microsizeobjects, (2)a micromanipulator withlarge-deflective elastic hinges for microbonding byadhesives, and(3)amoldingpantograph mechanism withlarge-deflective hinges, whichisusedasone component mechanism ofapalmtop surface mountsystem usingattheoneroom factory. In thecaseofthe micromanipulator withflexural hinges, itsmicromanipulator hadagoodhandling performance aboutglass balls whose diameter is50 or100ptm.Inthecaseof themicro manipulator withlarge-deflective elastic hingesfor microbonding byadhesives, anewbonding system ofaslight amountofadhesives wasfound, anditsgoodperformance wereconfirmed inexperiments. Inthecaseofthemolding pantograph mechanism withlarge-deflective hinges whose materials arepolypropylene, itwasconfirmed that thehinge inthemechanism hadnotfractured evenifmorethanone million repeatable motionof themechanism in the mechanism's fatigue test. Moreover, inorder tohavealong life hinge, thefatigue process toward thefracture ofthehinge specimen wasclarified inexperiments byhinge-specimen's fatigue test.