Wireless remote control for a vibration-driven electromagnet-type moving microrobot (Fabrication of third prototype microrobot and experimental results for straight running and turning)

摘要

In recent years, various investigations have been conducted on microrobots by many researchers, and contests are held throughout the year with the aim of developing microrobot technologies. As a result, various types of microrobots have been proposed including motor-type, piezoelectric-element-type, and electromagnet-type microrobots. To date, the author's research group has been studying a locomotion mechanism and a control method for an electromagnet-type microrobot, which has a volume of 1cm³. In a previous study by the author, a structure and a control method that enable a microrobot with only one electromagnet coil to turn were proposed, and the characteristics of a running microrobot were investigated through some experiments. However, the developed microrobot could not move freely because of the wires which supply energy or control signals from the battery and the controller. To date, I proposed the wireless remote control method for a microrobot and developed the first and second prototype wireless remote controlled microrobot and performed some experiments to confirm the proposed method. In this paper, I fabricated third prototype microrobot and carried out some experiments on its straight running and turning.