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Updated: Jan 19, 2026

The Modular Design and Production of an Intelligent Robot Based on a Closed-Loop Control Strategy
Published on: October 14, 2017
Target clamping and cooperative motion control of ant robots
Jingyi Wang1, Niandong Jiao, Steve Tung
1State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, People's Republic of China. Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, People's Republic of China. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Carpenter ants possess the characteristics of division of labor, communication between individuals, cooperation, and the ability to solve problems. Inspired by the carpenter ant, we designed electromagnetically controlled ant millirobots that can move, clamp, and work cooperatively. The robot can receive power wirelessly to actuate its ionic polymer-metal composite gripper. Further, two robots can be controlled to manipulate small components individually or cooperatively. Dual-robot manipulation is found to take 76.7% of the time required for single-robot manipulation. The results show that complicated manipulation can be performed by robots that are multifunctional and flexible by utilizing electromagnetic actuation, intelligent materials, and wireless power transmission.
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