Vision Control for a MEMS Robotic System

MINIMAN is a European Union ESPRIT research project which combines the expertise of 6 European academic institutions and 2 industrial companies. The 3-year project (which started at the end of 1998) seeks to explore the possibility of using microrobots in real-world applications. The project targets are the demonstration of the assembly of micromechanical parts for a future IT peripheral technology; and grasping, moving and sorting of biological cells. The vision subsystem, which is being developed at Sheffield Hallam University, must recognize, track and provide feedback position information regarding the discrete small objects that form a miniature assembly. The most important task is to recognize and track objects under a microscope. A description of some of the vision modules is given: in the static mode - rigid object recognition and biological cell recognition; and in the dynamic mode - tracking in real-time. (Abstract quotes from original text)