Papers by Dominique Gendreau

A new method for the design of micromanufacturing systems is developed. This method, based on mod... more A new method for the design of micromanufacturing systems is developed. This method, based on modularity, combines a top-down approach of production systems with a bottom-up approach to take into account the specific constraints of the technologies and know-how in the microworld. To execute an assembly task, we need operative devices and scenario adapted to the manipulation. These elements are encapsulated into a constituent module. For that, we have defined several types of basic modules that depend on to the technology support. The proposed strategy allows many possibilities of operative architecture to assemble different types of product and to exchange the different modules when the results of the micromanipulation are not satisfactory. Thus, when the failure rate is too high, it is possible to change the actuator or to modify the control strategy or to include an additional element. This paper reports the proposed concept, presents its application to a micromanipulation station developed in our research group. The station is composed of two microrobots which work in cooperation to execute pick-and-place sequences of parts measuring between 200 ȝm to 500 ȝm. The performance criterion is focused on the success of the operation in automatic mode.

The increase greater than ever in the developments of microproducts leads us to consider the desi... more The increase greater than ever in the developments of microproducts leads us to consider the design of an automatic, flexible, reconfigurable and upgradeable microfactory. Thus defined, the microfactory has the ability to implement an infrastructure of automated manufacture in small or average batches, and will be able to prove the feasibility of automated production in greater quantity. Two main difficulties have been identified. First, the operator in charge of the production setting has accessibility problem in the microworld. Second, the permanent adaptation of the production system to the variations of the intrinsic parameters of the microworld. Consequently, such a concept of microfactory must assist the operator by the capitalization of last experiments and the restitution of acquired know-how. Taking into account the importance and diversity of information, our approach consists in defining all this technical information system. Our method went on a modeling of the microfact...

Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 2010
The construction of a new generation of MEMS which includes micro-assembly steps in the current m... more The construction of a new generation of MEMS which includes micro-assembly steps in the current microfabrication process is a big challenge. It is necessary to develop new production means named micromanufacturing systems in order to perform these new assembly steps. The classical approach called "top-down" which consists in a functional analysis and a definition of the tasks sequences is insufficient for micromanufacturing systems. Indeed, the technical and physical constraints of the microworld (e.g. the adhesion phenomenon) must be taken into account in order to design reliable micromanufacturing systems. A new method of designing micromanufacturing systems is presented in this paper. Our approach combines the general "top-down" approach with a "bottom-up" approach which takes into account technical constraints. The method enables to build a modular architecture for micromanufacturing systems. In order to obtain this modular architecture, we have devised an original identification technique of modules and an association technique of modules. This work has been used to design the controller of an experimental robotic micro-assembly station.
Résumé : La fabrication automatisée de microproduits requiert lors du prototypage une assistance ... more Résumé : La fabrication automatisée de microproduits requiert lors du prototypage une assistance technique à l'opérateur compte tenu de l'inaccessibilité directe que ce soit pour agir ou pour observer et mesurer. L'instrumentation des plateformes devient incontournable et l' ...
Résumé. Aujourd'hui, on trouve des microproduits dans de nombreux domaines : médical, son, i... more Résumé. Aujourd'hui, on trouve des microproduits dans de nombreux domaines : médical, son, image, constituants de l'automobile, électroménager. De nouveaux appareils de production adaptés doivent être développés pour répondre à une fabrication bien particulière et une ...
RÉSUMÉ : les microsystèmes de production ont la dualité d'opérer dans l'univers particu... more RÉSUMÉ : les microsystèmes de production ont la dualité d'opérer dans l'univers particulier du micromonde et de constituer un système de production à part entière. Ainsi, ils ont la nécessité de pouvoir s'intégrer dans un milieu fondamentalement différent de l'échelle humaine. De ...
Abstract: Microfactories are new specific and flexible systems to produce and assemble micrometri... more Abstract: Microfactories are new specific and flexible systems to produce and assemble micrometric products. These systems are different of standard production platforms because they are confronted with a lot of constraints without influence at human-scale systems. This approach will lead ...
This paper shows, in a global solution of the control of a microfactory, a dedicated and perennia... more This paper shows, in a global solution of the control of a microfactory, a dedicated and perennial structure of a technical information system. Our objective is to allow the realization of a reorganizable and reconfigurable production microsystem. The manufacture ...

The development of new hybrid microsystems needs new technologies which are able to perform assem... more The development of new hybrid microsystems needs new technologies which are able to perform assembly of small micro-objects. Now, the current micromanipulation technologies are still unreliable for micro-objects which typical size is down to hundred micrometers. Consequently, the study and the development of innovative artificial micro-object manipulation strategies in these dimensions are particularly relevant. As presented in the literature, micromanipulations are perturbed by the adhesion and surface forces which depend on surrounding mediums. We propose to perform micro-assembly tasks in liquid medium, because adhesion and surface forces applied on submerged microobjects are less important than in air. An overview of the microforces in air and in liquid is presented in this paper. This paper focuses on the architecture of a submerged assembly cell including the definition of stocks, conveyance systems and workstations. Defining the architecture of the submerged assembly cell is indeed a keypoint of the cell design. The stocks and workstations could be for example place in a large unique liquid medium or in a collection of droplets.
2014 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, 2014
In this paper, we propose a SysML model and a Modelica simulation of an air-jet conveyor for micr... more In this paper, we propose a SysML model and a Modelica simulation of an air-jet conveyor for micro objects. Indeed, modeling and simulation are part of verification & validation activities, which are important tasks during the conception of a complex system. This article focuses mainly on the modeling and simulation of air-jet nozzles and on their influence on a millimeter size object. The obtained results are discussed and analyzed to obtain information on the conveyor system. This work is part of the ANR Smart Blocks project.
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Papers by Dominique Gendreau