An Overview of Microrobotic Systems for Microforce Sensing

Considering microbotics, microforce sensing, their working environment, and their control architecture together, microrobotic force-sensing systems provide the potential to outperform traditional stand-alone approaches. Microrobotics is a unique way for humans to control interactions between a robot and micrometer-size samples by enabling the control of speeds, dynamics, approach angles, and localization of the contact in a highly versatile manner. Many highly integrated microforce sensors attempt to measure forces occurring during these interactions, which are highly difficult to predict because the forces strongly depend on many environmental and system parameters. This article discusses state-of-the-art microrobotic systems for microforce sensing, considering all of these factors. It starts by presenting the basic principles of microrobotic microforce sensing, robotics, and control. It then discusses the importance of microforce sensor calibration and active microforce-sensing techniques. Finally, it provides an overview of microrobotic microforce-sensing systems and applications, including both tethered and untethered microrobotic approaches.