Man-machine interface for micro/nano manipulation with an AFM probe

In this paper, elements of a human-machine interface for teleoperated nano scale object manipulation are discussed. Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) probe based sensing and manipulation is connected with direct teleoperation technology for putting human operators inside the nano world for interacting with surfaces and manipulating objects at the nanoscale. 3 d.o.f. PHANToM haptic device is utilized as the master manipulator, and piezoresistive MEMS fabricated AFM probe is selected as the slave manipulator. A computer graphics display is designed to provide the sense of real-time vision to the operator where the objective scale is beyond real-time vision limits. This is achieved by modeling the surface deformation and the cantilever deflection and providing the human operator with a 3D display of the task environment. Simulations and experiments are made to show the performance of the interface system.