Development of a novel omnidirectional microrobot

The paper proposes a novel high resolution piezo-actuated mobile microrobot. Based on deformations of piezoelectric tubes, the microrobot can achieve translation in any direction on the plane and a rotation around its center Different from other micro mechanisms, the microrobot is actuated by adhesive force instead of sliding friction force The movable range is infinite in principle. In addition, it is easy to get a motion in vertical direction by extending or contracting all the tubes simultaneously. The paper builds mathematic model for the robot, as well as investigates some experiments. The experimental results demonstrate the microrobot has characteristics of compact volume, quick response, long displacement, and high resolution.