Design of centimeter-scale inchworm robots with bidirectional claws

Author

Lee, Dongwoo ; Kim, Sinbae ; Park, Yong-Lae ; Wood, Robert J.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Eng. & Appl. Sci., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, USA

fYear

2011

fDate

9-13 May 2011

Firstpage

3197

Lastpage

3204

Abstract

We present the design and fabrication of centimeter scale robots, which use inchworm-like motion and bidirectional claws. Two prototypes for different locomotion goals were built utilizing these two characteristics: Type I is designed particularly for horizontal surfaces utilizing two linear actuators and compliant claws. This robot is capable of steering and straight motion by utilizing directionally anisotropic friction. Type II is a variant of Type I that is designed for locomotion on ferromagnetic ceilings or vertical planes by using permanent magnets. The Smart Composite Microstructures (SCM) technique enables versatile and multi-jointed meso-scale devices suitable for such robots.

Keywords

legged locomotion; microrobots; motion control; permanent magnets; steering systems; anisotropic friction; bidirectional claw; centimeter-scale inchworm robot design; ferromagnetic ceiling; horizontal surface; inchworm-like motion; linear actuator; multijointed mesoscale device; permanent magnet; smart composite microstructures technique; steering motion; straight motion; type I robot; type II robot; Actuators; Force; Friction; Magnetic flux; Robots; Springs; Substrates;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011 IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Shanghai

ISSN

1050-4729

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-386-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICRA.2011.5980458

Filename

5980458