PIANHO

The objective of the Pianho project was the development of a multi sensorial platform for exploring and intervening in the nano-­‐‑world that could be adapted to a Synchrotron Radiation beamline. Since long, X-­‐‑rays play a fundamental role in a large majority of scientific research, from medicine to material science, going through biology, physics, chemistry…More recently, the emerging interest in nanoscience and nanotechnology has prompted the development of specialized installations dedicated to nanoscience. The ESRF has then concentrated its efforts in this direction developing new beamlines capable of focusing the beam down to few tens of nm1. X-­‐‑rays offer many opportunities in the study of nanostructures but has also some limitations: (1) X-­‐‑rays have very good chemical resolution, but lack of grasp on the morphology of a sample; (2) X-­‐‑rays are powerful, yet they cannot exert a controlled mechanical stress on a sample; (3) the small dimensions of the nonofocused X-­‐‑ray beams make the alignment procedures difficult and the pointing stability uncertain. Conversely, Atomic Force Microscopes are well suited to follow up and render the morphology of samples and manipulate and deform them. However, still they lack of a good interactivity with the operator for performing complex tasks. Coupling a two nano-­‐‑prongs prehensile station to multisensorial interface for haptic or automatic control of tasks in the nano-­‐‑world. For attaining a versatile instrument capable of characterizing a sample by AFM imaging and manipulate it in 3D, we have developed a device based on two independent AFM heads. With this instrument it is possible then (1) to characterize the morphology of samples on a large scale to pin down the region of interest; (2) to precisely position the two prongs over the chosen object; (3) to pick-­‐‑ up, hold and manipulate a micro/nano object in air or in liquid keeping under continuous control the prehensile force. With the idea of easing the recognition and manipulation actions, the instrument has been linked to a haptic interface allowing an interactive, manual control. This coupling has allowed the development of complex tasks (form recognition, manipulation) on a micro/nano scale exploiting the human dexterity. The nanoenvironments following game rules well different from those governing the macro-­‐‑world, a simulation station has been also developed for providing training opportunities. Finally, more classic automatic task handling has been associated to the control chain of the instrument for assuring the reproducibility and repeatability of special actions.