An Insect-Scale Self-Sufficient Rolling Microrobot

Bhushan, Palak; Tomlin, Claire J.

doi:10.1109/lra.2019.2949735

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…Their mass can be reduced by 30mg by shifting the mass towards the wing tips while maintaining the high desired rotational inertia. This saving in mass can be used to add an on-board electronics unit like the one developed in [11] weighing no more than 20mg being low-voltage, and it can be powered using the 8mg photovoltaic cell that was used in [5] to demonstrate untethered operation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ratchet is a mechanism that transmits torque (and thus mechanical power) from the actuator to the flywheel only when the coil moves in the anti-clockwise direction. We describe the ratchet here briefly, but we refer the reader to [11] to find the details about its working and construction. The ratchet is comprised of two parts -an outer patterned ring, and an inner shaft (see Fig.…”

Section: E Ratchetmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was observed that the ratchet design of [11], that is, a shaft diameter of 2mm and number of elastic beams = 6, led to high contact pressures at the tip of the elastic beams which wore down the ratchet very quickly leaving the device non-functional. To overcome that, the ratchet was resized to have a shaft diameter of 2.8mm with number of elastic beams = 10 to reduce the contact pressures while transmitting the same amount of torque.…”

Section: E Ratchetmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…wing − τ losses (11) Note that the flywheel always rotates anti-clockwise and thus θwing is always positive. During steady-state, the aerodynamic damping torque and τ losses drain some energy away from the flywheel every cycle, whereas the torque from the Steel spring adds the same amount of energy back.…”

Section: G Full System Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some ideas for gearing down have been used previously for microrobots [10]. Here we use a ratchet mechanism [11], [12] to convert the motion of high-frequency small-displacement actuators to a low-frequency continuous rotation motion, in part similar to how inchworm motors add up small motions [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design of the First Insect-scale Spinning-wing Robot

Bhushan,

Tomlin

2019

Preprint

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Here we present the design of an insect-scale microrobot that generates lift by spinning its wings. This is in contrast to most other microrobot designs at this size scale which rely on flapping wings to produce lift. The robot has a wing span of 4 centimeters and weighs 133 milligrams. It spins its wings at 47 revolutions/second generating > 138 milligrams of lift while consuming approximately 60 milliwatts of total power and operating at a low voltage (< 3 V). Of the total power consumed 8.8 milliwatts is mechanical power generated, part of which goes towards spinning the wings, and 51 milliwatts is wasted in resistive Joule heating. With a lift-to-power ratio of 2.3 grams/W, its performance is at par with the best reported flapping wing devices at the insect-scale.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: E Ratchetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: E Ratchetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: G Full System Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design of the First Insect-scale Spinning-wing Robot

Bhushan,

Tomlin

2019

Preprint

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Developments and Challenges of Miniature Piezoelectric Robots: A Review

Li,

Deng,

Zhang

et al. 2023

Advanced Science

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Miniature robots have been widely studied and applied in the fields of search and rescue, reconnaissance, micromanipulation, and even the interior of the human body benefiting from their highlight features of small size, light weight, and agile movement. With the development of new smart materials, many functional actuating elements have been proposed to construct miniature robots. Compared with other actuating elements, piezoelectric actuating elements have the advantages of compact structure, high power density, fast response, high resolution, and no electromagnetic interference, which make them greatly suitable for actuating miniature robots, and capture the attentions and favor of numerous scholars. In this paper, a comprehensive review of recent developments in miniature piezoelectric robots (MPRs) is provided. The MPRs are classified and summarized in detail from three aspects of operating environment, structure of piezoelectric actuating element, and working principle. In addition, new manufacturing methods and piezoelectric materials in MPRs, as well as the application situations, are sorted out and outlined. Finally, the challenges and future trends of MPRs are evaluated and discussed. It is hoped that this review will be of great assistance for determining appropriate designs and guiding future developments of MPRs, and provide a destination board to the researchers interested in MPRs.

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A Millimeter‐Scale Micro Crawling Robot with Fast‐Moving Driven by a Miniature Electromagnetic Linear Actuator

Zhu,

Li,

Zhao

et al. 2024

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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The micro crawling robot exhibits significant potential applications in various fields such as fault detection, disaster relief, and environmental monitoring. This article introduces a high‐performance millimeter scale crawling robot driven by a miniature electromagnetic linear actuator (MELA) with a body length of 5–6 mm and a mass of 80 mg. In this article, the working principle of the micro robot is analyzed and validated, and the influence of current, frequency, and angle α between the direction of actuator's force and the crawling surface on the crawling speed are analyzed through experiments. Results show that the optimal α ranges from 50° to 55°, and a specific current and frequency are identified to achieve maximum crawling speed for robot with particular α. When α is 50°, with a current of 300 mA and a frequency of 200 Hz, the robot reached the maximum speed of 20.2 Body Length s−1(BL s−1). The proposed robot can crawl at 12 BL s−1 with a load of 110 mg, and support a maximum load of 400 mg. Additionally, the robot demonstrated diverse capabilities such as climbing on a 10° slope with a load of 110 mg, jumping on a 1 mm obstacle, and crawling on surfaces of various materials.

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An Insect-Scale Self-Sufficient Rolling Microrobot

Cited by 20 publications

References 17 publications

Design of the First Insect-scale Spinning-wing Robot

Design of the First Insect-scale Spinning-wing Robot

Developments and Challenges of Miniature Piezoelectric Robots: A Review

A Millimeter‐Scale Micro Crawling Robot with Fast‐Moving Driven by a Miniature Electromagnetic Linear Actuator

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