Motion Control of Planar Objects Using Large-area Arrays of MEMS-like Distributed Manipulators

Andrew Berlin, David Biegelsen, Patrick Cheung, Markus Fromherz, David Goldberg, Warren Jackson, Bryan Preas, James Reich, and Lars-Erik Swartz

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the Xerox PARC levitating media transport, including initial experimental results. The levitating media transport is a closed-loop MEMS-based motion control system that employs 12 in. x 12 in. arrays of directed air jets to levitate and control the motion of planar objects, such as sheets of paper, without contacting them. An array of 32,000 optical sensors (photodiodes) senses the position of the media in real-time, while 1,152 air jet actuators apply distributed control forces to the object being transported. Initial results have demonstrated closed-loop positioning accuracies on the order of 50 microns. Trajectory tracking accuracies are substantially larger in this very preliminary data, reflecting the primitive controller used for these initial experiments.

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