Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Microrobot Research Articles

MEMS Microrobot Controlled by Mounted Neural Networks IC with Two Types Actuators

We report the hexapod microrobot controlled by the bare chip IC of hardware neural networks. MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) technology is used for fabrication of the microrobot. Lead zirconium titanate (PZT) and shape memory alloy (SMA) are used in each actuator, respectively. As the result, PZT type is realized the walking motion by bare chip IC. Moreover, SMA type shows the hexapod walking locomotion with mounted bare chip IC. The walking speed is 2.4mm / min and the step width was 0.083mm.

Development of impact-type rotary actuator and application for MEMS microrobot by bare chip IC of hardware neuron model

This paper proposes an impact-type microelectro mechanical systems (MEMS) rotary actuator and application for a millimeter-scale MEMS microrobot. The rotational motion of the actuator was generated by vibration of a multilayer piezoelectric element. The size of the fabricated actuator was 1.0 mm × 4.4 mm × 3.2 mm. The fabricated actuator was controlled by the pulse-type hardware neuron model (P-HNM) as the biomimetics technology, and it was integrated in a CMOS IC. The maximum rotational speed was 37.5 rpm when an applied neuron frequency was 39.6 kHz and an input voltage was 3.48 V. The actuator showed the low power consumption of 96.4 mW. The fabricated actuator and the fabricated control circuit that included the P-HNM were built in the MEMS microrobot. The size of the fabricated microrobot was 4.0 mm × 4.6 mm × 4.8 mm.

Neural Networks Integrated Circuit for Biomimetics MEMS Microrobot

In this paper, we will propose the neural networks integrated circuit (NNIC) which is the driving waveform generator of the 4.0, 2.7, 2.5 mm, width, length, height in size biomimetics microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microrobot. The microrobot was made from silicon wafer fabricated by micro fabrication technology. The mechanical system of the robot was equipped with small size rotary type actuators, link mechanisms and six legs to realize the ant-like switching behavior. The NNIC generates the driving waveform using synchronization phenomena such as biological neural networks. The driving waveform can operate the actuators of the MEMS microrobot directly. Therefore, the NNIC bare chip realizes the robot control without using any software programs or A/D converters. The microrobot performed forward and backward locomotion, and also changes direction by inputting an external single trigger pulse. The locomotion speed of the microrobot was 26.4 mm/min when the step width was 0.88 mm. The power consumption of the system was 250 mWh when the room temperature was 298 K.

Development of a pulse control-type MEMS microrobot with a hardware neural network

This article presents the micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) microrobot which demonstrates locomotion controlled by hardware neural networks (HNN). The size of the microrobot fabricated by the MEMS technology is 4 × 4 × 3.5 mm. The frame of the robot is made of silicon wafer, and it is equipped with a rotary-type actuator, a link mechanism, and six legs. The rotary-type actuator generates rotational movement by applying an electrical current to artificial muscle wires. The locomotion of the microrobot is obtained by the rotation of the rotary-type actuator. As in a living organism, the HNN realized robot control without using any software programs, A/D converters, or additional driving circuits. A central pattern generator (CPG) model was implemented as an HNN system to emulate the locomotion pattern. The MEMS microrobot emulated the locomotion method and the neural networks of an insect with the rotary-type actuator, the link mechanism, and the HNN. The microrobot performed forward and backward locomotion, and also changed direction by inputting an external trigger pulse. The locomotion speed was 0.325 mm/s and the step width was 1.3 mm.