Travel Support for NIST Micro-Robotics Challenge at IEEE ICRA 2011

该项目支持学生参加NIST微型机器人挑战赛，该挑战赛涉及微型机电系统(MEMS)的设计和制造方面的进步，使移动微型机器人能够在受控环境中自主导航和操作。预计这项技术将在智能传感器网络、活体医疗诊断和治疗以及自适应微电子等各种应用中发挥关键作用。学生探索微型机器人的运动、能量存储、嵌入式智能和运动测量。NIST基于性能的移动微型机器人竞赛：1)激励研究人员加速微型机器人的开发，2)揭示最紧迫的技术挑战，3)评估最成功的微尺度移动和操纵方法(例如爬行的驱动技术)。在竞赛中，研究团队展示了支持微尺度驱动、操纵和移动挑战主题的工作演示。这笔资金增加了美国队的竞争力，因为这项赛事传统上一直由来自欧洲的球队主导。为期数天的比赛在IEEE ICRA会议期间举行，为吸引广泛的技术受众提供了一个极好的机会。这些活动也向公众开放，以提高人们对最先进技术的认识。这些比赛为学生和领导人提供了一个机会，让他们了解微型机器人如何在社会中发挥重要作用。

This project supports student travel to the NIST Micro-Robotics Challenge which involves advances in the design and fabrication of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) enabling the development of mobile micro-robots that can autonomously navigate and manipulate in controlled environments. It is expected that this technology will be critical in applications as varied as intelligent sensor networks, in vivo medical diagnosis and treatment, and adaptive microelectronics. Students explore micro-robot locomotion, power storage, embedded intelligence, and motion measurement. The NIST performance-based competitions for mobile micro-robots: 1) motivates researchers to accelerate micro-robot development, 2) reveals the most pressing technical challenges, and 3) evaluates the most successful methods for locomotion and manipulation at the micro-scale (e.g., actuation techniques for crawling).In the competition research teams showcase working demonstrations that support the challenge themes of micro-scale actuation, manipulation and locomotion. This funding increases the competitiveness of US teams, as this event has traditionally been dominated by teams from Europe. The multi-day competitions are held during the IEEE ICRA conference providing an excellent opportunity to engage a broad technical audience. These are also be open to the general public to raise awareness of the state-of-the-art. The competitions provide an opportunity for students and leaders to learn how micro-robotics can play an important role in society.