Preliminary Results Related to the Design of Virtual Probes for Use in a Nano-Manipulation Test-Bed

This paper discusses the design of virtual probe tip models for use in a nano-manipulation research test-bed (NMRT). The proposed NMRT would help study the feasibility of a given manipulation technique in a virtual environment before physical experiments. For example, NMRT would be able to help users determine if a specific kind of probe tip can be used to pull out a nano-particle from a given substrate. A virtual probe tip model (for instance) would consider the given geometry and material of probe tip and simulate its behavior in a manipulation application in a physics based virtual reality environment. Such a virtual analysis and overall approach would result in considerable saving in time and financial resources with substantial application potential in medical and biotechnology fields where nanoparticle manipulation is useful. Expandability of the NMRT is made possible by designing an ‘information oriented’ or ‘information intensive’ model for a target set of nano-manipulation activities, which maps in detail various attributes related to a target nano-manipulation process [1]. In this approach, information models based on “engineering Enterprise Modeling Language” (eEML) are used. For example, consider an existing information model for interaction of a probe tip with a spherical particle; a user can use an existing information model, or modify it quickly to study the impact of two approaches (eg. manipulation strategy-A versus strategy-B, which may apply a different probe-tip for gripping). For a target nano-manipulation process (for example, the assembly of nano particles using an Atomic Force Microscope probe as a gripper), an information model can represent the core attributes influencing the target process; influencing criteria including constraints, information inputs, and physical inputs can be modeled explicitly and used to drive a target analysis or simulation activity.