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Summary
In this bachelor project I have contributed to the development of optical tweezers
with force-feedback. These optical tweezers are abled to trap a micrometer sized object and then a
force-feedback program makes sure that this object stays at a certain reference position inside the
trap. The distance between this reference position and the center of the trap determines the size of
the force exerted on the object.
In this project the force-feedback program was tested using several assays, which mostly
consisted of a bundle of microtubules, a plastic bead of 2 micrometer which were transported by
motor proteins called kinesin. When the movement of these beads was simulated, the forcefeedback program brought the bead back to the set reference position. The exact reaction of the
force-feedback program is determined by a PID algorithm. The parameters in this system were
adjusted to optimize the program. The assays with the motor proteins worked properly and
appropriate parameters were found.