Sangtera

Sangtera develops microhydraulic actuators that use electrowetting rather than conventional electromagnetic motors to produce high-force, high-precision motion in very small packages. The technology was invented at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and is fabricated on the same assembly lines used to manufacture electronic displays, which the company positions as its route to high-volume production. Its two stated target applications are dexterous robotics, particularly robotic hands for humanoid systems, and high-accuracy chiplet placement for semiconductor advanced packaging. The company is based in Lowell, Massachusetts and is backed by MassVentures, the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition, E14 Fund, NSF, and ARIA.

Microhydraulic electrowetting actuation delivers hundreds of times the torque density of conventional electromagnetic motors, is inherently backdrivable with built-in force sensing, and holds a grip at near-zero power - all in modules as small as 6mm in diameter, made on existing display fabrication lines.