The general idea of distributed robotics (or multirobot systems) is that teams of robots, deployed to achieve a common goal, can outperform individual robots in terms of e ciency and quality and, in some cases, can perform tasks that a single robot cannot. Consider, for example, Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs), each of which has an extremely small payload capacity. Though individual MAVs may have lim...

Most birds and many insects use periodic wing motion to propel themselves and maneuver. Most conventional flying machines are propelled by rotating machinery, achieve lift through rotating or fixed wings, and are controlled through the production of steady aerodynamic forces produced by rotors or movable wings. Many of the first powered flapping-wing micro air vehicles (MAVs) effectively replac...

Swimming strategies at the microscopic scale involve different mechanisms to those at the human scale. At this scale, the flow is dominated by the viscosity effects of the water and becomes reversible. This feature, known as the scallop theorem needs to be circumvented in order to swim with strokes that produce a net motion of the swimmer. The talk proposes to give an overview of recent works o...

In this paper, we present an interesting method to microfabricate a tilted micro air jet generator. We used the well-know deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) technique in order to realize in a silicon substrate a double side etching. For aircraft and cars, micro air jets will take an important place for fluid control. Micro air jets are characterized by their speed, frequency and tilt. Usually, th...

As our population ages, there is a greater need for a suitable supply of engineered tissues to address a range of debilitating ailments. Stem cell based therapies are envisioned to meet this emerging need. Despite significant progress in controlling stem cell differentiation, it is still difficult to engineer human tissue constructs for transplantation. Recent advances in microand nanofabricati...

A robust, large-force, large-deflection micro balloon actuator for aerodynamic (maneuvering) control of transonic aircraft has been developed. Using a novel process, high yield linear arrays of silicone balloons on a robust silicon substrate have been fabricated that can deflect vertically in excess of one 111111. Balloon actuators have been tested under cyclic conditions to assess reliability....

The adhesion between a micro/nano-object and a microgripper end-effector is an important problem in micromanipulation. Canceling or reducing this force is a great challenge. This force is directly linked to the surface chemical structure of the object and the gripper. We propose to predict this force between a structuring surface and a micro-object with a multisphere van der Waals force model. ...

Here we present the control, performance and modeling of an untethered electromagnetically actuated magnetic micro-robot. The microrobot, which is composed of neodymium–iron–boron with dimensions 250 m 130 m 10 m, is actuated by a system of six macroscale electromagnets. Periodically varying magnetic fields are used to impose magnetic torques, which induce stick–slip motion in the micro-robot. ...

internet is one of the most promising future energy infrastructures which could enhance energy efficiency and improve system operating flexibility. In analog to the micro-grid, micro energy internet puts more emphasis on distribution level and consumer side. The concept and design principles of smart micro energy internet are proposed to accommodate micro-grids, distributed poly-generation syst...