A holistic survey on mechatronic Systems in Micro/Nano scale with challenges and applications

Micro/Nano mechatronic systems might be defined as systems that include nano- or micro-scale components. These components can be sensors, actuators, and/or physical structures. Furthermore, the high-precision control laws for such small scales are important to ensure stability, accuracy, and precision in these systems. In this writing, four categories of such small-scale systems are considered by providing multifarious novel or key examples from the literature: control engineering and modeling, design and fabrication, measurement engineering, and sensor/actuator development. The applications discussed in the examples vary from nano-positioners, crucial in systems such as atomic force microscopes, to biological sensors like carbon nano-tubes that respond to chemical or molecular stimuli. It is observed that in many instances, especially in micro−/nano-robots, the categories overlap for the completion of a system that needs to be small in size, to be controllable with high accuracy, to have high precision sensing capacity, and finally to be able to carry out submillimeter measurements. Thus, a holistic point of view upon such systems is necessary for future applications. This paper does not limit the type of sensors or actuators to the industrial ones and extends the investigated examples to encompass biological sensing and actuating mechanisms that respond to chemical stimuli, proposing for the inclusion of these units in nano−/micro-mechatronic systems intended to be used in human body or other bio-environments. Several other research opportunities are discussed, challenges in the field are identified, and some propositions are put forward for future directions.