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Directional Adhesion of Angled Microfibers (Nov. 2008)
Angled polypropylene
microfibers show strong directional adhesion effects, with shear
strength in direction of fibers 45 times larger than sliding against
fiber directions. A 1 sq. cm. patch supported a load of 450 grams in shear. Directional adhesion of gecko inspired angled microfiber arrays, Applied Physics Letters, 2008. |
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| RoACH:An Autonomous 2.4 gram hexapod robot (Sep. 2008) A
new 2.4 gram crawling robot was created which uses laser machined
glass fiber to create 57 flexure joints. The robot has on board power
and electronics, and a top speed of 3 cm/sec (~ 1 body length per
second).
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Self-Cleaning
Gecko Adhesive (Sep. 2008)
First synthetic gecko
adhesive which cleans itself during use, as the natural gecko does.
After contamination by microspheres, the microfiber array loses all
adhesion strength. After repeated contacts with clean glass, the
microspheres are shed, and the fibers recover 30% of their original
adhesion. The fibers have a non-adhesive default state, which
encourages particle removal during contact. |
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Fast Prototyping for Folded Millirobots (Apr. 2008)
By
using posterboard, laser cutting, and lamination processes,
multi-jointed robots can be rapidly prototyped in less than 2 hours. An
example 2X scale crawler model has 57 flexure joints and can be driven
using shape memory alloy actuation.Hoover ICRA 2008 Fab Process Movie Movie of crawler |
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Directional
Gecko Adhesive (Jan. 2008)
First easy attach, easy release, and directional synthetic
gecko adhesive using hard polymer microfibers. Microfiber array using
42 million polypropylene microfibers per square centimeter. Patches
can support 9 N/sq.cm. in estimated contact region with preload of just
0.1N/sq.cm.Sliding-induced adhesion of stiff polymer, Interface 2008 |
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High Lift with 270 Hz Wing Beat (Oct.
2007)
By increasing wing
beat
frequency from 170 Hz to 270 Hz, the lift force generated by
a single wing increased from 500 uN to 1400 uN, more than 2X the lift
required for the final 100 mg MFI to hover.Steltz et al IROS 2007 |
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High Power Density Bimorph Actuator (Oct.
2007)
Dynamometer
testing
shows energy delivery of 19 uJ per cycle from a 10
mg PZT bimorph actuator, with power delivery of > 450 W/kg at 270
Hz. (By comparison, the smallest motor available at 70 mg has power
density < 100 W/kg).Steltz&Fearing, IROS 2007 |
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