Micro/Nanorobotics : some current Works in France and Potentialities for Medical Applications.

International audienceThis talk presents the research work performed at FEMTO-ST mainly in microrobotics. Microrobotics at FEMTO-ST is not directly dedicated to medical applications but the aim of this talk is to stimulate interest and discussions concerning the use of micro/nanorobotics and more generally microtechnologies for future medical devices. At FEMTO-ST, Microrobotics is mainly dedicated to micromanipulation applications. An overview of the research projects in microrobotics at the Automatic Control and Micro-Mechatronic Systems Department of FEMTO-ST will first be given, notably concerning microgripping and smart materials for actuation and sensing (i.e. piezoelectric, shape memory alloys, magnetic shape memory alloys). Some potential medical/biological applications derived from this know-how will be also presented, as biological cell manipulation, endoscopy, heart surgery. The Optics Department of FEMTO-ST developed also research for medical/biological applications. An outline of this work is then also given in the talk. Beyond research performed at FEMTO-ST and in order to enlarge the presentation at the French level, the talk will also briefly describes some work from ISIR in Paris, MAP Group, dealing with nanomanipulation and molecular docking for pharmaceutic applications