Plenary Talk III,
Chair: Prof. Katsushi Ikeuchi, University of Tokyo
Location: Palm Ballrooms 3, 4, and 5
Challenges for Effective Millirobots
Prof. Ron Fearing
Department of EECS
Abstract
Centimeter-scale
robots will create the opportunity to manipulate,
sense and explore a wide range of environments with greatly reduced cost and
expanded capabilities. In many applications, the capability of millirobots depends on mobility, multiplicity, and
intelligence. For intelligence, sensing and computation capabilities are now
almost available off the shelf. However,
there are significant challenges for millirobots in
creating all-terrain capable mobility, and low production costs for
multiplicity. Although many man-made
materials exceed natural materials in performance, surprisingly it has turned out
that millirobots use such high loads that material
strength is a significant limitation.
The mesoscopic range between MEMS and conventional robots
provides a new domain with rich challenges. There are advantages to this size scale
for novel low-cost fabrication methods, including rapid prototyping of millirobots from kits of parts. This talk will provide an
overview for the key challenges in millirobots for
materials, design, fabrication, actuation, control, sensing, and power, illustrated
by examples in legged and winged millirobots made
using carbon fiber.
Short Biography
Ronald Fearing is a professor and vice chair for undergraduate
matters in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at