A Steerable, Untethered, 250 by 60 micron MEMS Mobile Micro-Robot
Speaker: Bruce Randall Donald , Dartmouth College
Date: April 25 2006
Time: 4:00PM to 5:10PM
Location: 32-D463
Host: Daniela Rus, MIT
Contact: Alise Kalemkiarian, 617 253-2773, Alise@csail.mit.edu
Relevant URL: Abstract:
This talk will present a steerable, electrostatic, untethered, MEMS
(microelectromechanical systems) micro-robot, with dimensions of 250
by 60 by 10 microns. This micro-robot is 1 to 2 orders of magnitude
smaller in size than previous untethered micro-robotic systems. The
device consists of a curved, cantilevered steering arm, mounted on an
untethered scratch drive actuator. These two components are fabricated
monolithically from the same sheet of conductive polysilicon, and
receive a common power and control signal through a capacitive
coupling with an underlying electrical grid. All locations on the grid
receive the same power and control signal, so that the devices can be
operated without knowledge of their position on the substrate and
without constraining rails or tethers. Control and power delivery
waveforms are broadcast to the device through the capacitive power
coupling, and are decoded by the electromechanical response of the
device body. Individual control of the component actuators provides
two distinct motion gaits (forward motion and turning), which together
allow full coverage of a planar workspace (the robot is globally
controllable). These MEMS micro-robots turn with radii as small as 175
microns, and achieve speeds of over 200 microns/second, with an
average step size of 12 nm. They have been shown to operate open-loop
for distances exceeding 35 cm without failure, and can be controlled
through teleoperation to navigate complex paths.
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