A Jumping Silicon Microrobot with Electrostatic Inchworm Motors and Energy Storing Substrate Springs

Schindler, Craig B.; Greenspun, Joseph; Gomez, H.; Pister, Kristofer S. J.

doi:10.1109/transducers.2019.8808463

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…They have emerged to expand the exploration and micromanipulation potentials beyond human and macro robots’ capabilities and have been utilized in a wide range of applications in various scientific disciplines. For instance, several researchers have demonstrated the aptitude of microbots for the navigation of confined spaces and hazardous environments, [ 3–10 ] searching underneath obstacles after natural disasters, [ 4,5,7,10–12 ] and for environmental inspection and monitoring. [ 3,4,8,11,13 ] Additional interesting applications of microbotics include the picking and placing of micro‐sized objects, [ 14–16 ] micro‐assembly, [ 4,17,18 ] and micro‐manipulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, several researchers have demonstrated the aptitude of microbots for the navigation of confined spaces and hazardous environments, [ 3–10 ] searching underneath obstacles after natural disasters, [ 4,5,7,10–12 ] and for environmental inspection and monitoring. [ 3,4,8,11,13 ] Additional interesting applications of microbotics include the picking and placing of micro‐sized objects, [ 14–16 ] micro‐assembly, [ 4,17,18 ] and micro‐manipulation. [ 4,16,18,19 ] Microbots have also attracted significant attention in the field of biomedical engineering, [ 20 ] where they have been employed in vivo for treatments, [ 21,22 ] drug delivery, [ 22–25 ] during noninvasive micro‐surgeries [ 17,19,22–24 ] to deliver cargo such as stem cells, and to sample tissues in inaccessible locations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the micro scale regime includes the average size of insects and microorganisms, a vast number of microbots have been designed and engineered to mimic bio‐inspired kinematics, such as crawling, [ 15,31,32 ] walking, [ 4,7,9,10,33 ] swimming, [ 27,34,35 ] jumping, [ 11,12,36 ] and flapping locomotion. [ 8,12,37,38 ] The locomotion of those microbots was possible with the development of many types of actuators, the main components that induce the motion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Actuation of Mobile Microbots: A Review

Hussein,

Damdam,

Ren

et al. 2023

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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Maturation of robotics research and advances in the miniaturization of machines have contributed to the development of microbots and enabled new technological possibilities and applications. Microbots have a wide range of applications, including the navigation of confined spaces, environmental monitoring, micro‐assembly and manipulation of small objects, and in vivo micro‐surgeries and drug delivery. Actuators are among the most critical components that define the performance of robots. A comprehensive review of the actuation mechanisms that have been employed in mobile microbots is provided, including piezoelectric, magnetic, electrostatic, thermal, acoustic, biological, chemical, and optical actuation, with a focus on the most recent development and methodologies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Actuation of Mobile Microbots: A Review

Hussein,

Damdam,

Ren

et al. 2023

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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“…In this work, we leverage recent approaches in modelling small LaMSA jumpers as well as the resulting insights from this modelling [7,9,30]. We focus on spring-actuated jumpers in particular, as this is one of the most common strategies for implementing small jumping robots [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]29,31,32]. Most importantly, we will take advantage of our improved understanding of how latches in these spring actuated systems can be used to mediate the transition of stored potential energy to kinetic energy in the jumper [9,30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adapting small jumping robots to compliant environments

Divi

Reynaga

Azizi

et al. 2023

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Jumping animals launch themselves from surfaces that vary widely in compliance from grasses and shrubs to tree branches. However, studies of robotic jumpers have been largely limited to those jumping from rigid substrates. In this paper, we leverage recent work describing how latches in jumping systems can mediate the transition from stored potential energy to kinetic energy. By including a description of the latch in our system model of both the jumper and compliant substrate, we can describe conditions in which a jumper can either lose energy to the substrate or recover energy from the substrate resulting in an improved jump performance. Using our mathematical model, we illustrate how the latch plays a role in the ability of a system to adapt its jump performance to a wide range of substrates that vary in their compliance. Our modelling results are validated using a 4 g jumper with a range of latch designs jumping from substrates with varying mass and compliance. Finally, we demonstrate the jumper recovering energy from a tree branch during take-off, extending these mechanistic findings to robots interacting with a more natural environment.

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“…The first step is to select a suitable driving mechanism. In this work we rely on electrostatic attractive forces, because electrostatic forces scale proportional to area and are thus well suited to millimeter-sized devices (Schindler et al, 2019; Trimmer, 1989). The second step in the hierarchical design involves patterning individual electrode layers into power-dense arrays.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biologically inspired electrostatic artificial muscles for insect-sized robots

Wang

York

Chen

et al. 2021

The International Journal of Robotics Research

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Millimeter-sized electrostatic film actuators, inspired by the efficient spatial arrangement of insect muscles, achieve a muscle-like power density (61 W kg−1) and enable robotic applications in which agility is needed in confined spaces. Like biological muscles, these actuators incorporate a hierarchical structure, in this case building from electrodes to arrays to laminates, and are composed primarily of flexible materials. So comprised, these actuators can be designed for a wide range of manipulation and locomotion tasks, similar to natural muscle, while being robust and compact. A typical actuator can achieve 85 mN of force with a 15 mm stroke, with a size of [Formula: see text] mm3 and mass of 92 mg. Two millimeter-sized robots, an ultra-thin earthworm-inspired robot and an intestinal-muscle-inspired endoscopic tool for tissue resection, demonstrate the utility of these actuators. The earthworm robot undertakes inspection tasks: the navigation of a 5 mm channel and a 19 mm square tube while carrying an on-board camera. The surgical tool, which conforms to the surface of the distal end of an endoscope, similar to the thin, smooth muscle that covers the intestine, completes tissue cutting and penetrating tasks. Beyond these devices, we anticipate widespread use of these actuators in soft robots, medical robots, wearable robots, and miniature autonomous systems.

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A Jumping Silicon Microrobot with Electrostatic Inchworm Motors and Energy Storing Substrate Springs

Cited by 14 publications

References 6 publications

Actuation of Mobile Microbots: A Review

Actuation of Mobile Microbots: A Review

Adapting small jumping robots to compliant environments

Biologically inspired electrostatic artificial muscles for insect-sized robots

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