Modeling and Experimental Characterization of an Untethered Magnetic Micro-Robot

  • Authors:

  • Chytra Pawashe;Steven Floyd;Metin Sitti

  • Affiliations:

  • Equally contributing co-first authors Department ofMechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213,USA;Equally contributing co-first authors Department ofMechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213,USA;Department of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Institute,Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA

  • Venue:
  • International Journal of Robotics Research
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

Here we present the control, performance and modeling of an untethered electromagnetically actuated magnetic micro-robot. The microrobot, which is composed of neodymium芒聙聰iron芒聙聰boron with dimensions 250 脦录m 1 130 脦录m 1 10 脦录m , is actuated by a system of six macro-scale electromagnets. Periodically varying magnetic fields are used to impose magnetic torques, which induce stick芒聙聰slip motion in the micro-robot. These magnetic forces and torques are incorporated into a comprehensive dynamic model, which captures the behavior of the micro-robot. By pivoting the micro-robot about an edge, non-planar obstacles with characteristic sizes comparable to the robot length can be surmounted. Actuation is demonstrated on several substrates with different surface properties, in a fluid environment, and in a vacuum. Observed micro-robot translation speeds can exceed 10 mm s-1.