Microrobotics: A Commemorative Issue in Honor of Professor Robert J. Wood
A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "E:Engineering and Technology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 July 2022) | Viewed by 20362
Special Issue Editors
Interests: bio-inspired robots; micro aerial vehicles; control and dynamics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Robert J. Wood is the Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, an Associate Faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and a National Geographic Explorer. Prof. Wood completed his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He is founder of the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, which leverages expertise in microfabrication for the development of biologically inspired robots with feature sizes on the micrometer to centimeter scale. He is the winner of multiple awards for his work including the DARPA Young Faculty Award, NSF Career Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, Air Force Young Investigator Award, Technology Review’s TR35, and multiple best paper awards. In 2010, Wood received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama for his work in microrobotics. In 2012, he was selected for the Alan T. Waterman award, the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious early career award. In 2014, he was named one of National Geographic’s “Emerging Explorers”. Wood’s group is also dedicated to STEM education by using novel robots to motivate young students to pursue careers in science and engineering.
Microrobotics is an interdisciplinary field that integrates tools from robotics, physics, material sciences, and microfabrication to develop robotic systems at the micro and nano scales. This Special Issue honors Professor Robert J. Wood for his contribution to the development of bio-inspired meso-scale fabrication and actuation technology. Most notably, Prof. Wood’s team has developed a highly agile insect-scale aerial robot known as the RoboBee, which is one of the lightest and smallest aerial robots that can demonstrate remarkable flight maneuvers. Prof. Wood’s work has led to novel design methodology, microfabrication techniques, microscale sensors and actuators, power electronics, and dynamics and control methods for microscale systems.
Recent advances in microrobotic research has led to versatile, robust, and agile microscale robots that can move in multiple environments, perform complex tasks, and demonstrate functions that are unseen in traditional robots. At the millimeter scale, diminishing inertial forces and growing surface effects pose unique challenges and opportunities for microscale systems. To optimize power density at the millimeter or micrometer scale, novel electrostatic, piezoelectric, and magnetic actuators replace traditional electromagnetic motors in many microscale mobile robots. To demonstrate new capabilities such as perching and locomotion on the water surface, microscale system leverage surface effects that are often insignificant in large scale systems. Meanwhile, microscale robotic systems face unique challenges in design, fabrication, actuation, sensing, control, and power. To enable future microrobotic applications, we still require innovations in many areas such as developing power-dense actuators, compact and efficient power electronics, new energy sources, scalable microfabrication techniques, and control autonomy. This Special Issue aims to identify and address major challenges in frontier microrobotic research. The topics of interest include but are not limited to:
- Novel microscale (<1g) active materials, sensors, and actuators;
- Mechanism design and microfabrication techniques;
- Multifunctional or swarm magnetic microrobots;
- Microrobots in medical applications;
- Kinematics, dynamics, and control of micro and millirobot;
- Applications of surface phenomena (surface tension, electrostatics) in microscale systems;
- Mobile (aerial, terrestrial, or aquatic) microrobotic systems;
- Power electronics and power sources for microscale robots.
Dr. Pakpong Chirarattananon
Dr. Yufeng (Kevin) Chen
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- Microscale bio-inspired robotics
- Microfabrication
- Microscale mechanics
- Soft and active materials
- Actuators and sensors
- Dynamics and control
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