title: Development of a Microforce Sensor and Its Array Platform for Robotic Cell Microinjection Force Measurement.
abstract: Robot-assisted cell microinjection, which is precise and can enable a high throughput, is attracting interest from researchers. Conventional probe-type cell microforce sensors have some real-time injection force measurement limitations, which prevent their integration in a cell microinjection robot. In this paper, a novel supported-beam based cell micro-force sensor with a piezoelectric polyvinylidine fluoride film used as the sensing element is described, which was designed to solve the real-time force-sensing problem during a robotic microinjection manipulation, and theoretical mechanical and electrical models of the sensor function are derived. Furthermore, an array based cell-holding device with a trapezoidal microstructure is micro-fabricated, which serves to improve the force sensing speed and cell manipulation rates. Tests confirmed that the sensor showed good repeatability and a linearity of 1.82%. Finally, robot-assisted zebrafish embryo microinjection experiments were conducted. These results demonstrated the effectiveness of the sensor working with the robotic cell manipulation system. Moreover, the sensing structure, theoretical model, and fabrication method established in this study are not scale dependent. Smaller cells, e.g., mouse oocytes, could also be manipulated with this approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. xieyu@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. 19920141152932@stu.xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yunlei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. Linyz@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yuzi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. wangly@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lingyun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. wmxi@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wenming
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002460:Cell Line / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation; D017690:Cell Transplantation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D051379:Mice; D008845:Microinjections / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology
keywords: PVDF film; cell-holding device; cellular force sensor; force measurement; microinjection; micromanipulation