Henein, SimonBottinelli, StefanoAymon, CédricClavel, Reymond2023-11-142023-11-142023-11-141998https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/202130In the fields of semiconductors, opto-electronic interconnection and microsystems in general, the demand for precise positionning has grown along with the increasing miniaturization of the structures which are to be handled or tested. In many cases an inappropriate mechanical structure for a robot can be an insurmontable limiting factor to its precision. For example blacklash or friction can hardly be overcome by sensors or controllers. The approach we have chosen is to use a new concept of robot structures specially dedicated to microrobots : these structures are free from friction, backlash and wear at their articulations by using flexible bearings to replace the traditional rolling or plain bearings. This article explores a three degrees of freedom parallel robot ( Z OX OY) whose articulations are flexible joints. This structure which is an original illustration of the use of flexible structures in high precision robotics, makes of this article a good introduction to the world of flexures. First, the flexible mechanical structure of the robot is described in details: the structure is composed of simple flexible articulations connected by rigid links. Then the actuators are described: they consist of DC motors with encoders driving a screw-nut system. They have a liner motion range of 10mm and a repeatability of 0.8 microns. Finally the measured performances of the robot are given and its strengths and weaknesses are discussed.FlexuresElectro-discharge machining (EDM)Parallel robotsMicrorobotsHigh precision roboticstext::conference output::conference proceedings::conference paper