5. Conclusion and outlook

The design and production of devices for measuring micro- and nanoforces is one of the current challenges in microrobotics. The essential function of these devices is to characterize the interactions taking place in the microworld.

The behavior of objects in the microworld is difficult to model and therefore difficult to predict. The aim of force-measuring devices is therefore to provide a better understanding of the physical phenomena involved, so that they can be better controlled, or even used for micromanipulation tasks. In microrobotics, the key criteria characterizing a force sensor are stiffness and measurement range. Stiffness must be as low as possible to obtain good force measurement resolution. These resolutions are typically in the nanonewton range. The measurement range, meanwhile, needs to be as wide as possible, as the forces measured in microrobotics...