Motorised Micromanipulator

By T Baden, based on the “Searcher” by T Marzullo, Backyard Brains.

Motor mounts (optional)

Manual version assembled

Joystick control unit

Motorised version assembled

Manipulator: Fruit fly targeted with electrode

Electrode zoomed out

A 3-D printable micropositioning device (“manipulator”) based on 3 increasingly small chassis elements that slide inside each other. Positioning is guided by M4 screws which can be manually controlled, or driven by continuous rotation servos. The accuracy is in the order of 10s of microns.

Project materials

• Stl and OpenSCAD files plus project description (Thingiverse)
• Assembly Instructions
• Joystick control Arduino chassis (for motorised version)
• Instructions for motorising the manipulator