This paper presents the design of software simulation VIFS for insect flight. In particular, it is intended to estimate flight control algorithms and performance for a Micromechanical Flying Insect (MFI), a 10-25 mm (wingtip-to-wingtip) device eventually capable of sustained autonomous flight. The VIFS is an end-to-end tool composed of several modular blocks which model the actuators dynamics, ...

The emerging field of materials-based actuation continues to be the focus of considerable research because of its inherent scalability and its promise to drive micromechanical devices that cannot be realized with conventional mechanical actuator strategies. The electrolytic phase transformation actuator offers a new broad-spectrum solution to the problem of direct conversion of electrical to me...

This paper describes recent results on the design and simulation of a flight control system for Micromechanical Flying Insect (MFI), a 10-25 mm (wingtip-to-wingtip) device eventually capable of sustained autonomous flight. The biologically inspired system architecture results in a hierarchical structure of different control methodologies, which give the possibility to plan complex missions from...

We developed high-density microfluidic chips that contain plumbing networks with thousands of micromechanical valves and hundreds of individually addressable chambers. These fluidic devices are analogous to electronic integrated circuits fabricated using large-scale integration. A key component of these networks is the fluidic multiplexor, which is a combinatorial array of binary valve patterns...

The unprecedented economies of scale and unique mass transport properties of microfluidic devices made them viable nano-volume protein crystallization screening platforms. However, realizing the full potential of microfluidic crystallization requires complementary technologies for crystal optimization and harvesting. In this paper, we report a microfluidic device which provides a link between c...

We present results of the experimental verification a concept previously proposed all-optical wavelength-selective multichannel switch based on an off-axis Wood zone plate in millimeter waveband without use micromechanical devices or non-linear materials. A laboratory prototype such device is considered and its main parameters are discussed. It shown that optical isolation switched channels for...

Four prototypes of biomimetic sensors have been designed and implemented for flight control of a robotic flying insect. The ocelli use four photodiodes to detect changes in light intensity in the surrounding. The halteres use piezoactuated vibrating structures to sense body rotational velocities via the Coriolis forces. The optic flow sensors consist of linear arrays of elementary motion detect...

Creating insect-scale flapping flight at the 0.1 gram size has presented significant engineering challenges. A particular focus has been on creating miniature machines which generate similar wing stroke kinematics as flies or bees. Key challenges have been thorax mechanics, thorax dynamics, and obtaining high powerto-weight ratio actuators. Careful attention to mechanical design of the thorax a...