基于电磁微马达的移动微机器人驱动控制

介绍一种基于MEMS技术制作的电磁微马达驱动的毫米级移动微机器人及其控制方案。该微型机器人体积为 9.5mm× 9.5mm× 9.5mm ,共有 3个微马达 ,两个用于轮子驱动 ,另外一个通过 3∶1的减速装置来控制微机器人全方位转动。微马达的直径只有 5mm ,是由微细加工工艺制作的。文中设计了一种新颖的控制电路 ,其核心使用微控制器 (MCU)AT90S85 15 ,通过键盘可以实现微机器人前进、后退、左转、右转和加速、减速 6种动作 ,并介绍了微马达的驱动控制方法和程序设计     

微型机器人视觉系统的实现

利用Ф2mm电磁型微马达作为执行器设计制作了一外形尺寸为 5mm× 6mm的微型机器人小车 ,附设了粗细两级CCD摄像头来实现机器人视觉。为了满足机器人实时控制的要求 ,采用简单实用的机器人运动参数粗略提取方法 ,实现了机器人当前位置、运动速度和方向以及运动加速度等参数的实时提取。当机器人到达目的地来实现微器件精密定位时 ,采用亚像元定位的方法来实现微操作端位置参数的精确提取。模板匹配技术在微型机器人系统中的灵活运用解决了系统参数提取的实时性问题 ,实现了机器人视觉     

毫米级全方位移动微型装配机器人设计、运动学分析与控制

介绍了一种用于微型工厂的毫米级移动微装配机器人,其具有独特的全方位运动结构．微机器人由4个直径3 mm的电磁微马达驱动,并装备有一对微型夹钳．通过分析运动学矩阵的秩,证明了微机器人的全方位特性,并建立了微夹钳的运动学方程．设计了基于计算机视觉的微机器人控制系统,给出了微机器人定位和驱动方法．实验证明了微机器人的负载能力、机动性以及控制系统的有效性．     

电磁型微马达及其控制方式应用研究

对Фmm和Ф2mm电磁型微马达的原理、结构进行了详细介绍。利用微马达可以作为同步电机使用的特性实现微马达的快速运转,同时利用其步进特性实现单步进给。为了实现微马达在精密MEMS系统中的应用,采用了一种简单、实用的方式来实现微马达的步距细分。该马达良好的性能和完善的控制方式提高了其实用能力。     

一种用于微型工厂的毫米级全方位移动微机器人设计与分析

介绍了一种毫米级全方位移动微机器人,尺寸为9mm*8mm*8mm。独特的双轮设计实现了转向时与地面的滚动摩擦。驱动器为3个直径2mm的电磁微马达,其中2个用于直线驱动,另一个用于转向。运动受力分析揭示了微马达驱动力矩与双轮结构尺寸及各种摩擦之间的关系。仿真计算及实验表明微机器人具有良好的负载能力,能够满足微型工厂中的搬运操作要求。     

六足微型仿生机器人及其控制系统的研究

介绍了一种微型六足仿生机器人的结构与控制系统，分析了这种微型六足仿生机器人的移动原理，阐述了如何通过计算机来控制微型六足仿生机器人的运动，该机器人基于仿生学原理，结构独特，简单，新颖，能方便地实现前进和后退，其样相外形尺寸为：长30mm,宽40mm,高20mm，重6．3克，并对该样机进行了实验，实验结果表明该机器人具有较好的机动性。     

SMA微驱动器的设计方法

前言 微驱动器是微型机器人中的重要组成部分。形状记忆合金(SMA)用于微驱动器是一种极好选择。SMA体积越小,功重比越大;采用SMA驱动后可省略传动机构,使结构大为简化;同时可以实现精确控制。本文主要介绍SMA微驱动器的设计方法。     

微型驱动器及其测试技术

微驱动器是微型机电系统的关键部分。本文讨论了微驱动器中的微静电马达、微电磁马达、超声波马达、压电微驱动器、形状记忆合金微驱动器，并介绍了微驱动器的测试技术。     

仿趋磁细菌的微型机器人研究

为了克服现存微型机器人运动灵活性欠佳的缺点,借鉴趋磁细菌的运动方式,设计了一种内外联合调控的仿生微型机器人．该微型机器人的螺旋桨模仿趋磁细菌的鞭毛,主动推进机器人运行;其体内的永磁块模仿趋磁细菌的磁小体链,与体外导向磁场相互作用控制其运动方向．实验研究了体外控制信号对微型机器人运动速度的影响以及导向磁场控制下微型机器人的转向特性．结果表明,该微型机器人可实现运行速度和运行方向的灵活控制,可在非磁性细小管路的探测中发挥重要作用．     

基于被动万向连接的可重构微型移动机器人设计与控制

介绍了一种电磁微马达驱动的可重构微型移动机器人.设计了一种灵活的被动式万向连接器.多个基本的微机器人模块可手工连接在一起形成可自动脱离的被动式拖车,通过动力和无线通信接力方法来扩大它们整体的探测范围.以降低被动式拖车的轨迹跟踪误差为目标,通过运动学分析揭示了其轨迹跟踪误差与万向连接器的前后连接杆长度之日的关系,并给出了...     

Design and Optimization of an Omnidirectional Permanent-Magnetic Wheeled Wall-Climbing Microrobot with MEMS-Based Electromagnetic Micromotors

The paper presents a compact omnidirectional permanent-magnetic wheeled wall-climbing microrobot. A millimeter-sized axial flux electromagnetic micromotor based on MEMS technology has been specially fabricated for the microrobot and its size is 6.8 mm × 7.8 mm × 3.9 mm. A novel permanent-magnetic wheel is designed, which is directly integrated with the stators and rotor of the electromagnetic micromotor. The omnidirectional wall-climbing mechanism is realized by a set of steering gears and three standard permanent-magnetic wheels. By static and dynamic force analysis of the microrobot, the required magnetic force and the required torques for its translational and steering movements are derived. To reduce the unnecessary torque consumption of the microrobot, its structural parameters are optimized in combination with its design constraints by ANSOFT and Pro/Engineer simulation. A prototype of the proposed microrobot with the maximum designed load capacity of 3 g is developed, whose size is 26 mm in diameter and 16.4 mm in height. Experimental and simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of these concepts.     

An omni-directional mobile millimeter-sized microrobot with 3-mm electromagnetic micromotors for a micro-factory

This paper presents an omni-directional mobile microrobot for micro-assembly in a micro-factory. A novel structure is designed for omni-directional movement with three normal wheels. The millimeter-sized microrobot is actuated by four electromagnetic micromotors whose size is 3.1 mm × 3.1 mm × 1.4 mm. Three of the micromotors are for translation and the other one is for steering. The micromotor rotors are designed as the wheels to reduce the microrobot volume. A piezoelectric micro-gripper is fabricated for grasping micro-parts. The corresponding kinematics matrix is analyzed to prove the omni-directional mobility. A control system composed of two CCD cameras, a host computer and circuit board is designed. The macro camera is for a global view and the micro camera is for local supervision. Unique location methods are proposed for different scenarios. A microstep control approach for the micromotors is presented to satisfy the requirement of high positioning accuracy. The experiment demonstrates the mobility of the microrobot and the validity of the control system.     

Insect-type MEMS microrobot with mountable bare chip IC of artificial neural networks

This paper discussed insect-type MEMS microrobot system which could locomote without using computer programs. Locomotion of the MEMS microrobot was generated using the analog circuit of artificial neural networks. We constructed the artificial neural networks as a bare chip integrated circuit (IC) which could mount on top of the MEMS microrobot. As a result, the MEMS microrobot system could perform the locomotion using constructed bare chip IC of artificial neural networks. The insect-type MEMS microrobot system was 0.079 g in weight and less than 5.0 mm in size. Only the power source was outside of the robot. In addition, we analyze the heat conduction of the shape memory alloy-type actuator. It was shown that the heat of shape memory alloy conducts to the mechanical parts of the MEMS microrobot; therefore, locomotion becomes slowly after 30 s. The slow locomotion was 2 mm/min. We constructed the less conduction shape memory alloy-type actuator. The locomotion speed of the insect-type MEMS microrobot using less conduction shape memory alloy-type actuator was 90.8 mm/min.     

Motion control of a magnetically levitated microrobot using magnetic flux measurement

Recent advancements in micro/nano domain technologies have led to a renewed interest in ultra-high resolution magnetic-based actuation mechanisms. This paper deals with the development of a novel research-made magnetic microrobotic station (MMS) with promising potential in biological/biomedical applications. The MMS consists of two separate basic components: a magnetic drive unit and a microrobot. The magnetic drive unit produces and regulates the magnetic field for non-contact propelling of the microrobot in an enclosed environment. Our previous research findings have reported that the MMS should be equipped with high accuracy laser sensors for the position determination of the microrobot in the workspace. However, the laser positioning techniques can be used only in highly transparent environments. This paper seeks to address microrobot position estimation in non-transparent environments. A novel technique based on real-time magnetic flux measurement has been proposed for position estimation of the microrobot in the case of the laser beam blockage. A combination of Hall-effect sensors is employed in the structure of the magnetic drive unit to find the microrobot’s position using the produced magnetic flux. The most effective installation position for the Hall-effect sensors has been determined based on the accuracy sensitivity of experimental measurements. We derived a mathematical function which relates Hall-effect sensors’ voltage output and the position of the microrobot. The motion control capability of the Hall-effect-based positioning method is experimentally verified in the horizontal axis, and it was demonstrated that the microrobot can be operated in most of the workspace range with an accuracy of 0.3?mm as the root-mean-square of the position error.     

A Novel Swimming Microrobot Based on Artificial Cilia for Biomedical Applications

Swimming microrobots can exhibit high levels of performance to move freely in the human body fluids to fulfill risky biomedical operations by mimicking microorganisms. Many researchers have proposed micro swimming methods for viscous flows based on flagellar motion. Here, a novel swimming microrobot inspired by ciliated microorganisms based on artificial cilia is introduced. The hydrodynamic model is developed and performance parameters such as propulsive force, propulsive velocity and efficiency of the microrobot are computed. The velocity and efficiency dependence on design parameters of microrobot is evaluated. The proposed micro swimming concept offers appropriate efficiency, thrust, speed and maneuverability. It is shown that the introduced swimming microrobot can reach a maximum speed 4.5 mm/s and efficiency of 40%. The proposed microrobot has the potential to be utilized in both viscous and turbulent body flows.     

Four-leg independent mechanism for MEMS microrobot

In this paper, the development of a quadruped micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) microrobot with a four-leg independent mechanism is described. As the actuator mechanism inside small robot bodies is difficult to realize, many microrobots use external field forces such as magnetism and vibration. In this paper, artificial muscle wires that are family of shape memory alloy are used for the force of the actuator. The artificial muscle wire shows the large displacement by passing the electrical current through the material itself. The double four-link mechanism is adopted for the leg system. The link mechanism transforms the linear motion of the artificial muscle wire to the foot step-like pedaling motion. The location of the backward swing motion is lower than that of forward swing motion. This motion generates the locomotion force. As a result, the total length of the constructed quadruped MEMS microrobot was 6 mm. The microrobot could perform similar gait pattern changes as the quadruped animal.     

Development of an underwater biomimetic microrobot with compact structure and flexible locomotion

Compact structure and flexibility is normally considered as a pair of incompatible characteristics for legged microrobots. Most robots choose complex structure of multi-joint legs to attain the flexibility, while some microrobots have poor flexibility for miniaturization. To attain a microrobot with both compact structure and flexible locomotion, we designed a novel type of biomimetic locomotion employing ionic conducting polymer film (ICPF) actuators as one-DOF legs. We developed several prototype microrobots using this locomotion. In this paper, a microrobot using this biomimetic locomotion, named Walker-3, utilizing six ICPF actuators with two-DOF motion is developed. It is 30 mm in length, 55 mm in width and 8 mm in height (in static state). Experimental results indicate that Walker-3 can attain 6 mm/s of walking speed and 7.1 deg/s of rotating speed and climb on a 30° ascent at a speed of 0.5 mm/s with control signal of 10 V, 0.5 Hz. It is also suitable for uncertain terrain, such as climbing on a stairs less than 2 mm high and striding over a pit less than 5 mm wide. It has better flexibility, balance and load ability than its predecessors. We compared it with some legged microrobots and the result shows a microrobot with this biomimetic locomotion can have both compact structure and multi DOF locomotion.     

A new type of hybrid fish-like microrobot

In order to develop a new type of fish-like microrobot with swimming, walking, and floating motions, in our past research, we developed a hybrid microrobot actuated by ionic conducting polymer film (ICPF) actuators. But the microrobot had some problems in walking and floating motions. In this paper, we propose a concept of hybrid microrobot (see Fig. 1). The microrobot is actuated by a pair of caudal fins, a base with legs and an array of artificial swim bladders. We have developed a prototype of the base with legs and one artificial swim bladder, respectively, and carried out experiments for evaluating their characteristics. Experimental results show the base with legs can realize walking speed of 6 mm/s and rotating speed of 7.1 degrees/s respectively, and the prototype of the artificial swim bladder has a maximum floatage of 2.6 mN. The experimental results also indicate that the microrobot has some advantages, such as walking motion with 2 degrees of freedom, the walking ability on rough surface (sand paper), the controllable floatage, etc. This kind of fish-like microrobot is expected for industrial and medical applications.