The development of a wireless undulatory tadpole robot using ionic polymer–metal composite (IPMC) actuators is presented. In order to improve the thrust of the tadpole robot, a biomimetic undulatory motion of the fin tail is implemented. The overall size of the underwater microrobot prototype, shaped as a tadpole, is 96 mm in length, 24 mm in width, and 25 mm in thickness. It has one polymer fi...

Mobile microrobots have a promising future in various applications. These include targeted drug delivery, local measurement, biopsy or microassembly. Studying mobile microrobots inside microfluidics is an essential step towards such applications. But in this environment that was not designed for the robot, integration process and propulsion robustness still pose technological challenges. In thi...

Microrobots have the potential to dramatically change many aspects of medicine by navigating through bodily fluids to perform targeted The International Journal of Robotics Research Vol. 28, No. 11–12, November/December 2009, pp. 1434–1447 DOI: 10.1177/0278364909341658 c The Author(s), 2009. Reprints and permissions: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav Figures 1, 3, 5–10 appear in ...

This work examines the design of legs for a walking microrobot. The parameterized force-displacement relationships of planar serpentine flexure-based two degree-of-freedom legs are analyzed. An analytical model based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is developed to explore the design space, and is subsequently refined to include contact between adjacent beams. This is used to determine a successf...

In this paper, we propose a novel, magnetically driven microrobot equipped with a frame structure to measure the effects of stimulating aquatic microorganisms. The design and fabrication of the force-sensing structure with a displacement magnification mechanism based on beam deformation are described. The microrobot is composed of a Si-Ni hybrid structure constructed using micro-electro-mechani...

To fulfill the microassembly work successfully, an omnidirectional mobile microrobot is presented. To finish the micron size task, the positioning precision of the robot is highly important. But some unpredictable factors, especially the slip effect in wheel, would affect the precision of the robot and cause unwanted deviation. To limit the deviation and optimize the positioning performance of ...

In this paper, design of an autonomous microrobotic endoscopy system is presented. The proposed microrobotic endoscope is a vision-guided device, developed to facilitate navigation inside a human colon. The design of the entire system is divided into three areas viz. design of a microrobotic carrier, path planning and guidance, and an off-board control system. A microrobotic design based on pne...

Five different morphologies of MOFs were generated on the microrobot surface under solvent action, and MOF-based microrobots obtained by screening had good biocompatibility, high drug loading capacity targeted delivery capability.

This work presents initial progress towards an autonomous integrated walking microrobot. Design goals include driving a 1 mN (100 mg), 1 cm device at speeds on the order of 1 cm/s over smooth surfaces. A relatively low complexity MEMS fabrication process is used to create two degree-of-freedom legs to enable a walking gait. Test structures fabricated in this process characterize leg designs and...