Pas de Deux avec les Microrobots

Video captured through an optical microscope showing choreographed motion of two stress-engineered microrobots. The dimensions of each microrobot are 260 x 60 x 10 micrometers, and the robots are fabricated from polycrystalline silicon with a chrome stress-layer. The steering-arms of the robots are designed such that they can be independently controlled via a single control signal, allowing simultaneous control of multiple devices see references below numbered [1,2]. Parallel operation of multiple robots presents a significant advance over the control of a single microrobot in isolation, which we have previously demonstrated in 2005.

More information can be found here:
http://www.cs.duke.edu/donaldlab/Supplementary/ballet08/

References:

[1] B. R. Donald, C. G. Levey and I. Paprotny. "Planar Microassembly by Parallel Actuation of MEMS Microrobots." Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 2008 (Accepted; In press).

[2] B. R. Donald, C. G. Levey and I. Paprotny. "Assembly of Planar Structures by Parallel Actuation of MEMS Microrobots." The Technical Digest of the 2008 Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head Isl., 2008, pp. 202 - 207.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Microrobotics
• MEMS
• Multi-robotic
• systems
• Scratch-drives