Technical Papers and Presentations

Microrobotics has promising applications in microsurgery and microassembly. A challenge in these systems is interfacing with the robot. This project explores crawling robots that are powered and controlled through a global mechanical vibration field. By controlling the frequencies present in the vibration field, the user can then steer the robot. The “robot” has a rectangular body with three legs, and two “antennae” which consist of masses suspended from the front of the robot by springs. The robot was tested on a plate that was vibrated vertically. When the vibration frequency was 220 Hz, the robot moved forward. At 686 Hz, the robot moved in a broad clockwise turn, and at 1.09 kHz the robot spun in a tight clockwise turn.
The robots in this study display a complex rocking motion which is influenced by the motion of the suspended masses. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to investigate the dynamics of motion of the structure. The results of this study will be used to scale the robot design down to sub-millimeter dimensions.