PARVUS - miniaturised robot for improved flexibility in micro production

Purpose - Until now, the size range of most machines for precision assembly was much larger than the size of the pieces to be handled or the necessary workspace. Flexibly scalable miniaturised production machines can help to develop much more flexible micro production systems. The paper aims to describe the development of a micro-parallel-SCARA robot adapted in size to MEMS products.Design methodology approach - The robot consists of a miniaturised parallel structure, which provides a high level of accuracy in a workspace of 60 × 45 × 20 mm3. It has a base area of 130 × 170 mm2 and offers four degrees of freedom.Findings - Based on simulations, the degree of miniaturisation in terms of a smaller structure and a high level of accuracy is determined. The results show that a miniaturised hybrid robot with a plane parallel structure driven by miniaturised zero-backlash gears and electric motors can reach a theoretical repeatability better than 1 μm.Research limitations implications - The first prototype provides good prospects that the concept will be used in a visionary desktop-factory. As regards the accuracy parameters of the robot, there will be further efforts to optimise the robot's structure and drive mechanism.Practical implications - The repeatability of this first prototype is better than 14 μm. A better stiffness of optimised micro-gears and joints of the structure will guarantee a much better repeatability.Originality value - The paper illustrates that the Parvus is one of the smallest industrial robots for micro assembly equipped with a full range of functionalities like conventional industrial robots.