TY - GEN
T1 - Manipulating the Moving Trajectory of Insect-Scale Piezoelectric Soft Robots by Frequency
AU - Liang, Jiaming
AU - Wu, Yichuan
AU - Shao, Zhichun
AU - Yim, Justin K.
AU - Xu, Renxiao
AU - Song, Yi
AU - Qi, Mingjing
AU - Zhong, Junwen
AU - Zhang, Min
AU - Wang, Xiaohao
AU - Lin, Liwei
N1 - Funding Information:
By tuning the driving frequency, different moving directions of the robot can be achieved. In a prototype demonstration, the insect-scale robot is able to carry an onboard, 550 mg gas sensor (Sensirion, Inc.) to detect the gas concentrations along the moving path as shown in Figure 4a. Our robot can also avoid the randomly placed physical obstacles by only tuning the frequencies. The soft robot can record the ethanol concentration distribution with reasonable accuracy as shown in real-time as it travels (Figures 4b & 4c). The sequence of the control frequencies is shown in Figure 4d, indicating the straightforward, left-turn and right-turn locomotion under 120 Hz, 250 Hz, and 300 Hz of driving frequency, respectively. CONCLUSIONS This paper presents a miniature soft robot with its motions controlled by the driving frequency by means of the asymmetrical structural design. Simulation results obtained by the FEM method show that the asymmetric deformation of the robot can be induced by the asymmetric design of the body structure. Furthermore, the resulting asymmetric deformation can cause different ground hitting frequency which can affect the moving speed and direction of the robot. The simulation results are qualitatively verified by the experimental results as different motion trajectories are achieved under different input driving frequencies. Furthermore, a prototype robot has been demonstrated to avoid the ground obstacles and record the gas concentrations alone the traveling path by carrying a commercial gas sensor on top. As such, the moving robot and the proposed motion control mechanism of the robot by the driving frequency have the potential for various applications such as identifying gases in a confined space. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work is suppored in part by the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC), an NSF/Industry/University Research Cooperatin Center. Mr. J. Liang is supported by a scholarship from Tsinghau-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI). The authors also acknowledge the support from the National High Technology Research and Development Plan of China (2015AA043505) and the Shenzhen Fundamental Research Funds (JCY20150831192244849). REFERENCES [1] Goldberg B., et al. Power and Control Autonomy for High Speed Locomotion With an Insect-Scale Legged Robot. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 3.2 (2018): 987-993.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 IEEE.
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - This paper reports the control and manipulation of the moving trajectories of insect-scale soft robots by the applied driving electrical voltage frequency utilizing the asymmetric structural design of the actuating mechanism. Three distinctive advancements have been achieved: (1) a simple asymmetric structural design to create uneven responses on the legs of artificial insects to realize motion controls; (2) the capability of moving forward, leftward and rightward by adjusting the applied driving frequency; and (3) a demonstration of recording the ethanol concentration map around an area in real time by carrying a gas sensor on top of the robot on a controlled path bypassing the existing obstacles. As such, this work can advance the state-of-art technologies on wirelessly controlled, unmanned robots for various potential applications.
AB - This paper reports the control and manipulation of the moving trajectories of insect-scale soft robots by the applied driving electrical voltage frequency utilizing the asymmetric structural design of the actuating mechanism. Three distinctive advancements have been achieved: (1) a simple asymmetric structural design to create uneven responses on the legs of artificial insects to realize motion controls; (2) the capability of moving forward, leftward and rightward by adjusting the applied driving frequency; and (3) a demonstration of recording the ethanol concentration map around an area in real time by carrying a gas sensor on top of the robot on a controlled path bypassing the existing obstacles. As such, this work can advance the state-of-art technologies on wirelessly controlled, unmanned robots for various potential applications.
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U2 - 10.1109/MEMSYS.2019.8870751
DO - 10.1109/MEMSYS.2019.8870751
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85074360967
T3 - Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
SP - 1041
EP - 1044
BT - 2019 IEEE 32nd International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, MEMS 2019
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 32nd IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, MEMS 2019
Y2 - 27 January 2019 through 31 January 2019
ER -