Smart Blocks: A MEMS-based modular and self-reconfigurable surface for fast conveying of fragile objects and medicinal products – Smart Blocks

Sorting and conveying objects are two tasks necessary for production lines. Lots of different methods exist to perform these tasks but most of them require a contact between the conveyor and the transported objects. For that reason, fragile objects can be damaged by manipulations whereas clean products can be contaminated by the contact with the conveyor (especially in the pharmaceutical industries, microelectronic and food). To solve these problems, but also to explore future solutions for flexible production lines, we propose to develop self-reconfigurable modular conveyor based on a contact-free technology.
This conveyor will be composed of centimeter-size blocks (1-3 cm) which will be linked together to form the conveying surface. Each block will include a MEMS actuator array in the upper face in order to move the objects. These dense actuator arrays will be able to move either sub-centimeter size objects or even bigger ones. Sensors able to detect the object positions will be integrated also in the upper face thanks to innovating MEMS/CMOS integration. Each block will have its own processing unit as a micro-controller, and some communication ports will link it with its neighbors in order to plan global transport policies or to decide to reconfigure the shape of the conveyor in case of faulty blocks or of series change. With this aim in view, each block will be able to move thanks to actuators located on its lower side.
In order to reach this objective, the Smart Blocks are composed of different research field teams like computer science, networking, control, electronics and micromanufacturing. There are many technical and scientific challenges to solve but we believe our experience in working together in a former ANR project called Smart Surface, will allow us to reach our objective.