Concept Validation for a Novel Stick-and-Slip, Light-Powered, Mobile Micro-Crawler

Klotz, Jordan F.; Wei, Danming; Zhong, Yi; Zhang, Ruoshi; Sherehiy, Andriy; Saadatzi, Mohammad Nasser; Popa, Dan O.

doi:10.1109/marss.2019.8860938

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…1 Laboratory of Intelligent Machines, Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Energy Systems, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland Among candidate transduction mechanisms for MEMS-based robots, including electrostatic (Contreras et al, 2017), electrothermal (Klotz et al, 2019), and shape-memory alloy (Takato et al, 2017) among others, piezoelectric materials offer benefits like high actuation speeds with small power consumption. Thinfilm lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT), Figure 1, offers a promising solution for micro-robotic actuations tasks (Figure 2(a) and (b)), with advantages of having high work density per unit area and reasonable efficiency as a small capacitive load (Oldham et al, 2007;Pulskamp, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel design approach for micro-robotic appendages comprised of active and passive elements with disparate properties

Milojević

Shin

Oldham

2021

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent innovations in microsystems materials and fabrication permit the creation of complex microactuation mechnisms with heterogeneous properties and behaviors. Meanwhile, emerging applications such as micro-robotics extend the environments in with microsystems may operate. This introduces substantial challenges for the design given the wide range of feasible devices. This paper describes a novel synthesis method based on structural topology optimization for the automated design of micro-robotic appendages realized by utilizing heterogeneous materials and embedded actuation. A typical mechanism designed by this approach, inspired by innovations in thin-film piezoelectric integration with other microstructures and materials, might include active smart actuators, elements formed from traditional semiconductor materials, and comparatively soft polymer flexures. We will introduce the framework for design optimization, and detailed procedure for problem definition, parameterization, and optimization. The focus of the synthesis is on realizing micro-robotic appendages that can achieve control of an end-effector in different directions (one and two). Original formulations of the optimization objective functions that lead to desired micro-robotic solutions are presented. Examples of different optimized designs are presented, with novel micro-robotic appendage solutions that can realize large in-plane displacement compared to prior devices, controllable actuation in largely-decoupled axes, and/or generation of unusual rotational displacement from initially planar geometries. Performance predicted by the design optimization algorithm is compared to simulated behavior through computational modeling. The presented synthesis method can be utilized by others to design micro-robotic solutions for different applications.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel design approach for micro-robotic appendages comprised of active and passive elements with disparate properties

Milojević

Shin

Oldham

2021

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

SolarPede: a stick-and-slip, light-powered, Mobile micro-crawler

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Design and Evaluation of Human-Machine Interface for NEXUS: A Custom Microassembly System

Wei

Hall

Sherehiy

et al. 2020

Volume 2: Manufacturing Processes; Manufacturing Systems; Nano/Micro/Meso Manufacturing; Quality and Reliability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microassembly systems utilizing precision robotics have long been used for realizing 3-dimensional microstructures such as microrobots. Prior to assembly, such components are fabricated using Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) technology. The microassembly system then directs a microgripper through automated or human-controlled pick-and-place operations. In this paper, we describe a novel custom microassembly system, named NEXUS. The NEXUS integrates multi-degree of freedom (DOF) precision positioners, microscope computer vision, and micro-scale process tools such as a microgripper and vacuum tip. A semi-autonomous human-machine interface (HMI) is programmed by NI LabVIEW® to allow the operator to interact with the microassembly system. The NEXUS human-machine interface includes multiple functions, such as positioning, target detection, visual servoing, and inspection. The microassembly system’s HMI was used by operators to assemble various 3-dimensional microrobots such as the Solarpede, a novel light-powered stick-and-slip mobile microcrawler. Experimental results are reported in this paper that evaluate the system’s semi-autonomous capabilities in terms of assembly rate and yield and compare them to purely teleoperated assembly performance. Results show that the semi-automated capabilities of the microassembly system’s HMI offer a more consistent assembly rate of microrobot components.

show abstract

Concept Validation for a Novel Stick-and-Slip, Light-Powered, Mobile Micro-Crawler

Cited by 4 publications

References 11 publications

A novel design approach for micro-robotic appendages comprised of active and passive elements with disparate properties

A novel design approach for micro-robotic appendages comprised of active and passive elements with disparate properties

SolarPede: a stick-and-slip, light-powered, Mobile micro-crawler

Design and Evaluation of Human-Machine Interface for NEXUS: A Custom Microassembly System

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About