CRII: FRR: Latch-mediation as a Pathway for Control in Small, Fast Jumping Microrobots

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。跳跃微型机器人令人印象深刻的跳跃，以及激发它们的昆虫，是小弹簧的结果。弹簧为更大的跳跃储存了大量的能量。一个和昆虫一样大小的微型机器人，可以跳到比自己身体长十倍的高度，有可能探索未知的和不断变化的环境，如地下洞穴，灾难碎石，甚至其他星球的表面。这个项目将创造跳跃的微型机器人，将达到新的控制和自主水平。这项工作将创建一个数学和实验框架，揭示能量是如何通过闩锁释放的。该框架将连接机器人设计的功能与控制，以推动跳跃微型机器人的自主边界。小型机器人的巨大飞跃使该项目成为机器人研究中推广活动的绝佳候选者。本科研究人员将通过布法罗大学的一个项目门户网站招募，该门户网站为整个大学的不同学生群体提供公平的研究机会。本项目的研究计划致力于跳跃高度可控的跳跃微型机器人的原理设计，这是闩锁介导弹簧驱动（LaMSA）框架的一部分。在这种框架中，弹簧被加载但被闩锁阻挡，并且当闩锁被移除时发生跳跃。跳跃机器人的控制在很大程度上是通过弹簧加载的，但这个项目的重点是了解解锁的动力学作为一个新的控制轴在跳跃微型机器人。这对于弹簧驱动的难以置信的快速时间尺度尤其重要。首先，将通过数学和物理模型阐明解锁动力学的透彻理解。对解锁动力学的新理解将成为跳跃微型机器人控制的途径，以产生具有不同初始条件的相同的定型跳跃行为，或具有相同初始条件的可变行为。这些研究工作将是对动力学和解锁控制的一般理解的途径，并导致跳跃微型机器人的设计和控制的原则性框架。该项目得到了机器人技术跨部门基础研究计划的支持，由工程局（ENG）和计算机与信息科学与工程局（CISE）共同管理和资助该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).The impressive leaps of jumping microrobots, and the insects that inspire them, are a result of small springs. The springs store large amounts of energy for even bigger jumps. A microrobot the same size as an insect that can jump to heights over ten times its own body length has the potential to explore unknown and changing environments, such as subterranean caves, disaster rubble, or even the surface of other planets.This project will create jumping microrobots that will reach new levels of control and autonomy. This work will create a mathematical and experimental framework that uncovers how energy is released by a latch. This framework will connect features of robot design with control to push the boundaries of autonomy in jumping microrobots. The huge leaps in small robots make this project an excellent candidate for outreach activities in robotics research. Undergraduate researchers will be recruited through a project portal at the University at Buffalo that provides equitable access to research opportunities to a diverse student population across the university. The research plan in this project works toward the principled design of jumping microrobots with controllable jump heights, a part of the latch-mediated spring actuation (LaMSA) framework. In this framework, springs are loaded but blocked by a latch, and the jump occurs when the latch is removed. Control in jumping robots has largely been through spring loaded, but this project focuses on understanding the dynamics of unlatching as a new axis of control in jumping microrobots. This is particularly important for the incredibly fast time scales of spring actuation. First, a thorough understanding of the dynamics of unlatching will be elucidated through mathematical and physical models. A new understanding of the dynamics of unlatching will become a pathway for control in jumping microrobots, to either produce the same, stereotyped jumping behavior with different initial conditions, or variable behavior with the same initial conditions. These research efforts will be a pathway toward a general understanding of dynamics and control of unlatching, and lead to a principled framework for the design and control of jumping microrobots.This project is supported by the cross-directorate Foundational Research in Robotics program, jointly managed and funded by the Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.