A 2.6-g Untethered Microrobot with Maneuverable Crawling and High Jumping Performance

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Biomimetics
• Mechanical Engineering

Background:

• Microrobots offer advantages in complex environments due to multimodal locomotion.
• Achieving untethered crawling and jumping in centimeter-scale robots is a significant engineering challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and demonstrate a fully untethered microrobot with integrated crawling and jumping capabilities.
• To overcome limitations of current untethered microrobots in multimodal locomotion.

Main Methods:

• Developed a centimeter-scale microrobot (3.3 cm height, 2.6 g) inspired by click beetle jumping.
• Integrated piezoelectric-driven differential actuation for crawling.
• Incorporated an electrically triggered, heated fuse release catapult mechanism for jumping.

Main Results:

• The microrobot achieved a jump height of 29 times its body height (95 cm).
• The isolated catapult design reached a record jump height of 230 times its body length.
• Demonstrated wireless control for smooth crawling-jumping-crawling transitions to navigate unconstructed terrain and overcome obstacles.

Conclusions:

• This research advances the design of centimeter-scale microrobots with multimodal locomotion.
• The integrated untethered system demonstrates significant potential for microrobots in complex, unstructured environments.