The grasp and release of objects have been widely studied in robotics. At the microscale, this problem becomes more difficult due to the microscale specificities which are notably manifested by the high dynamics of microsystems, their small inertia, their fragility, the predominance of surface forces and the high complexity of integrating adapted sensors.In this paper, the problem of the grasp/release task is considered at the microscale. A new nonlinear controller design based on Sliding Mode Impedance Control (SMIC) is proposed to automate the grasp/release of the micropart. The proposed controller controls dexterously the dynamic interaction between the microgripper and the micropart and forces the system to follow the desired dynamic relation (impedance). To perform the grasp/release task, a new smart-fingered-microgripper is designed. The microgripper is composed of an active finger with integrated force sensor and a passive finger.The grasp/release of a micropart of size 50 µm $$ \times $$ 350 µm $$ \times $$ 2 mm is tested in experiments using the control scheme and the developed microgripper. The microgripper design and the control scheme tested show their effectiveness for the grasp/release at the microscale.