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Monolithic Piezoelectric Insect With Resonance Walking

2018; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Volume: 23; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1109/tmech.2018.2792618

1941-014X

Shannon A. Rios, Andrew J. Fleming, Yuen Kuan Yong,

Biomimetic flight and propulsion mechanisms

This paper describes the design, manufacture, and performance of an untethered hexapod robot titled MinRAR V2. This robot utilizes a monolithic piezoelectric element machined to allow for individual activation of bending actuators. The legs were designed so that the first two resonance modes overlap and therefore produce a walking motion at resonance. The monolithic construction significantly improves the matching of resonance modes between legs when compared with previous designs. Miniature control and high-voltage driving electronics were designed to drive 24 separate piezoelectric elements powered from a single 3.7 V lithium polymer battery. The robot was driven both tethered and untethered, and was able to achieve a maximum forward velocity of 98 mm/s when driven at 190 Hz and 6 mm/s at 5 Hz untethered. The robot is capable of a wide range of movements including banking, on the spot turning, and reverse motion.