Design of a Miniature Autonomous Surveillance Robot

The small size of miniature robots poses great challenges for the mechanical and electrical design and the implementation of autonomous capabilities. In this paper, the mechanical and electrical design for a twowheeled cylindrical miniature autonomous robot （＂BMS-1＂, BIT MicroScout-1） is presented and some autonomous capabilities are implemented by multiple sensors and some arithmetic models. Several experimental results show that BMS-1 is useful for surveillance in confined spaces and suitable for large-scale surveillance due to some autonomous capabilities.

Analysis of characteristics of a pneumatic miniature robotic system

This paper described the structure of a flexible miniature robotic system which can move in human cavities, and then analyzed the characteristics of the robotic system in detail. The mobile mechanism of the miniature robotic system is soft; it makes inchworm-like movement driven by a 3-DOF pneumatic rubber actuator and holds its positions by air chambers. The driving characteristic models in axial and bending directions of the actuator were set up and the kinemics equations of the robotic system were set up. Experiments had been done through an electro-pressure control system, by which the pneumatic robotic system can be controlled with high accuracy. It is suitable for moving in human cavities for medical inspection.

TrinityMag:A novel magnetically actuated miniature robot manipulating system with a human-scale workspace

The development of the magnetic manipulating system is essential for applications of magnetically actuated miniature robots in biomedical practice,such as targeted therapy and precise surgery.However,the workspaces of existing magnetic manipulating systems for miniature robots are mostly insufficient to manipulate miniature robots inside human bodies.The present study proposes an innovative electromagnets-based manipulating system,TrinityMag,which can produce dynamic three-dimensional(3D)magnetic fields in a human-scale spherical workspace with a 2.6 m diameter.The magnetic field of a single electromagnet is simulated,and a new calibration technic is designed based on deep learning networks.Then,the arrangement of three electromagnets is optimized to produce maximal 3D arbitrary magnetic fields with limited currents.Moreover,a target-tracking algorithm is developed so that the TrinityMag can track the miniature robot in real time.Finally,the TrinityMag is validated in experiments to manipulate a soft millirobot to move in human-scale tortuous tracks with two types of locomotions.The maximum speed of the soft millirobot reaches 11.05 body length/s.Our work contributes to a significant increment in the workspace of the electromagnets-based manipulating system for miniature robots.We further expect that the TrinityMag could push the applications of miniature robots from laboratory to clinical practice.

Solar-powered miniature robot for on-site oil spill treatment under magnetic steering

Walking on the water surface is an effective method for miniature robots to transport payloads with dramatically decreased interfacial drag. Current aquatic robots reported are generally actuated by a beam of focused light that can trigger asymmetrical deformation, enabling the directional movement through horizontal momentum transfer of photoinduced actuation force to the water. However, the operations are heavily dependent on manual manipulation of the focused light, making the long-term actuation and application of the aquatic robots in vast scenarios challenging. Herein, we developed a kind of water striderinspired robot that can autonomously manage the motion on the water surface under solar irradiation, with their direction steerable by a magnetic field. The motion of this bioinspired robot on the water surface was achieved by the use of a solar cell panel as a driving module to enable propulsive motion based on the conversion of light-electric-mechanical energies. The superhydrophobic design of its leg surfaces enables the aquatic robots with weight-bearing and drag-reducing abilities. With the assistance of magnetic navigation, the bioinspired robot can continuously and controllably locomote to the oily spill floating on the water body and collect them with high efficiency. For further demonstration, the treatment of oil spills in a campus pool with high efficiency has also been achieved. This on-site oil-spill treating strategy, taking advantage of a home-made bioinspired robot actuated by natural sunlight under magnetic steering, shows great potential applications in water-body remediation.

Design and Analysis of a Rotational Leg-type Miniature Robot with an Actuated Middle Joint and a Tail （RoMiRAMT-II）

In this paper, a rotational leg-type miniature robot with a bioinspired actuated middle joint and a tail is proposed for stable locomotion and improved climbing ability. The robot has four independently actuated rotational legs, giving it advantages of both wheel-type and leg-type locomotion. The design parameters of the rotational legs were determined by 3D simulation within the seven candidates that selected by a newly proposed metric. It also has unique characteristics inspired by biological structures： a middle joint and a tail. An actuated middle joint allows the frontal body to be lifted or lowered, which was inspired by a flexible body joint of animals, to climb higher obstacles. Effectiveness of the middle joint was analytically verified by the geometric analysis of the robot. Additionally, a multi-functional one Degree Of Freedom （1-DOF） tail was added; the tail prevented the body being easily flipped, while allowed the robot to climb higher obstacles. A bristle-inspired micro structure was attached to the tail to enhance straightness of locomotion. Body size of the robot was 158 mm × 80 mm × 85 mm and weighed 581 g including a 7.4 V Li-Polymer battery. The average velocity of the robot was 2.74 m·s ^-1 （17.67 body lengths per second） and the maximum height of an obstacle that the robot could climb was 106 mm （2.5 times of leg length）, which all were verified by experiments.

Toward Fast and Efficient Mobility in Aquatic Environment： A Robot with Compliant Swimming Appendages Inspired by a Water Beetle

Water beetles are proficient drag-powered swimmers, with oar-like legs. Inspired by this mechanism, here we propose a miniature robot, with mobility provided by a pair of legs with swimming appendages. The robot has optimized linkage structure to maximize the stroke angle, which is actuated by a single DC motor with a series of gears and a spring. A simplified swimming appendage model is proposed to calculate the deflection due to the applied drag force, and is compared with simulated data using COMSOL Multiphysies. Also, the swimming appendages are optimized by considering their locations on the legs using two fitness functions, and six different configurations are selected. We investigate the performance of the robot with various types of appendage using a high-speed camera, and motion capture cameras. The robot with the proposed configuration exhibits fast and efficient movement compared with other robots. In addition, the locomotion of the robot is analyzed by considering its dynamics, and compared with that of a water boatman （Corixidae）.