MARSBot: A Bristle-Bot Microrobot with Augmented Reality Steering Control for Wireless Structural Health Monitoring

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Microrobots offer potential for infrastructure monitoring in confined spaces.
• Existing microrobots face limitations in computing power, wireless stability, and accessibility for difficult environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate a microrobot with bristle-bot locomotion and a novel centrifugal yaw-steering control scheme.
• To develop a network enabling augmented reality (AR) based human-robot collaboration for infrastructure monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Studied bristle-bot dynamics under various conditions.
• Investigated additive manufacturing processes for prototype development.
• Implemented a network integrating an AR headset, access point, and haptic controllers.

Main Results:

• Developed a microrobot prototype suitable for structural health monitoring.
• Established real-time visual data transmission to an AR headset via a central hub.
• Enabled operators to simultaneously inspect exterior structures and control the microrobot for interior monitoring.

Conclusions:

• The developed microrobot system enhances infrastructure monitoring capabilities in challenging environments.
• The AR-haptic controller network facilitates effective human-robot collaboration for field inspections.
• This technology offers a promising solution for real-time structural health assessment.