Assembly and Disassembly of Magnetic Mobile Micro-Robots towards 2-D Reconfigurable Micro-Systems

A primary challenge in the field of reconfigurable robotics is scaling down the size of individual robotic modules. We present a novel set of permanent magnet modules that are 900 μm × 900 μm × 270 μm in size, called Mag-μMods, for use in a reconfigurable micro-system. The module is actuated by oscillating external magnetic fields less than 5 mT in strength, and is capable of locomoting on a 2-D surface. Multiple modules can be controlled by using an electrostatic anchoring surface, which can selectively prevent specific modules from being driven by the external field while allowing others to move freely. We address the challenges of both assembling and disassembling two modules. Assembly is performed by bringing two modules sufficiently close that their magnetic attraction causes them to combine. Disassembly is performed by electrostatically anchoring one module to the surface, and applying magnetic forces or torques from external sources to separate the unanchored module.