RI: Medium: Collaborative Research: Mobile Microrobot Platform for Advanced Manufacturing Applications

这项研究的目标是创建一个灵活的微型加法制造平台，利用一组不受限制的微型机器人和模块化、多功能的积木来创建智能微型设备和结构。外加磁场通常用于单个磁性移动微型机器人的动力和驱动。然而，为了在一个微型机器人团队中实现不同于单个机器人的行为，它们的设计或施加到每个微型机器人的磁控制信号必须有显著的差异。因此，本研究的智力优势在于利用MEMS制造的平面微线圈创建专门的磁场产生衬底的新方法以及相关的控制方法，从而能够真正独立地控制多个移动微型机器人。因此，该方案的研究目标是：微线圈和相关控制电子设备的设计和制造；移动磁性微型机器人群体的运动控制；磁性微型机器人和模块化组件的设计和制造，基于具有各种材料特性和功能的专业微型组件。这些目标的成功完成将导致一个变革性的移动微型机器人群体平台，能够执行各种先进的添加剂制造任务。潜在的应用包括非常高密度的能量存储、高应变驱动、能量收集、非常低功率的通信设备以及带有集成传感器的复合材料结构。这一项目的更广泛影响在于传播工业界和学术界的研究成果，以及一项涵盖从K-12到研究生各级的相关外联活动的教育议程。

The goal of this research is to create a flexible, micro-scale additive manufacturing platform utilizing a team of untethered micro-scale robots and modular, multifunctional building blocks to create smart micro-devices and structures. Externally applied magnetic fields are commonly used for the power and actuation of individual magnetic mobile microrobots. However, in order to achieve different behaviors from individual robots within a team of microrobots, there must be either significant variation in their design or in the magnetic control signals applied to each microrobot.The intellectual merit of this research, therefore, lies in the novel approach to create a specialized magnetic potential field generating substrate from MEMS-fabricated planar microcoils and the related control methodology to enable truly independent control of multiple mobile microrobots. Thus, the research objectives of the proposal are: the design and fabrication of the micro-coils and related control electronics; motion control for mobile magnetic microrobot swarms; and magnetic microrobot and modular component design and fabrication, based on specialized micro-components with various material properties and functions.Successful completion of the objectives will result in a transformative mobile microrobot swarm platform capable of executing various advanced additive manufacturing tasks. Potential applications include very high-density energy storage, high strain actuation, energy harvesting, very low power communications devices, and composite structures with integrated sensors. Further broader impacts of this project reside in disseminating the research output in industry and academia along with an educational agenda spanning related outreach activities from the K-12 through graduate levels.