Design, fabrication, control, and programming of MEMS micro-robots.

Abstract

This thesis presents technologies for the design, fabrication, operation, and control of electrostatic MEMS micro-robots. It describes prototype micro-robots, with dimensions of 60 μm by 250 μm by 10 μm, that are capable of controllable traversals through an {x, y, t} configuration space. These devices operate on an electrified substrate that broadcasts a power and control signal to all possible device locations. In this way, the devices can be operated open-loop, without knowledge of their position or orientation. All sub-systems on each device receive this same power and control signal. These individual sub-systems decode the signal differently, so that multiple components on each device can be operated independently. This thesis explains how to design micro-robots so that all of their sub-systems are independently controllable, and presents algorithms for constructing the electrical signals required to produce each desired behavior of the system as a whole. It describes surface micromachining techniques for fabrication of these micro-robots, and presents performance data on their operation.