Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, United States of America.
Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, United States of America.
Bioinspir Biomim. 2024 May 17;19(4). doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/ad46b9.
Jumping microrobots and insects power their impressive leaps through systems of springs and latches. Using springs and latches, rather than motors or muscles, as actuators to power jumps imposes new challenges on controlling the performance of the jump. In this paper, we show how tuning the motor and spring relative to one another in a torque reversal latch can lead to an ability to control jump output, producing either tuneable (variable) or stereotyped jumps. We develop and utilize a simple mathematical model to explore the underlying design, dynamics, and control of a torque reversal mechanism, provides the opportunity to achieve different outcomes through the interaction between geometry, spring properties, and motor voltage. We relate system design and control parameters to performance to guide the design of torque reversal mechanisms for either variable or stereotyped jump performance. We then build a small (356 mg) microrobot and characterize the constituent components (e.g. motor and spring). Through tuning the actuator and spring relative to the geometry of the torque reversal mechanism, we demonstrate that we can achieve jumping microrobots that both jump with different take-off velocities given the actuator input (variable jumping), and those that jump with nearly the same take-off velocity with actuator input (stereotyped jumping). The coupling between spring characteristics and geometry in this system has benefits for resource-limited microrobots, and our work highlights design combinations that have synergistic impacts on output, compared to others that constrain it. This work will guide new design principles for enabling control in resource-limited jumping microrobots.
跳跃式微型机器人和昆虫通过弹簧和闩锁系统为它们令人印象深刻的跳跃提供动力。使用弹簧和闩锁作为致动器来驱动跳跃，而不是使用电机或肌肉，这对控制跳跃性能提出了新的挑战。在本文中，我们展示了如何在转矩反转闩锁中调整电机和弹簧之间的相对关系，从而能够控制跳跃输出，产生可调节（可变）或定型跳跃。我们开发并利用了一个简单的数学模型来探索转矩反转机制的基础设计、动力学和控制，为通过几何形状、弹簧特性和电机电压之间的相互作用实现不同结果提供了机会。我们将系统设计和控制参数与性能相关联，以指导用于可变或定型跳跃性能的转矩反转机构的设计。然后，我们构建了一个小型（356 毫克）的微型机器人，并对组成部分（例如电机和弹簧）进行了特征描述。通过调整致动器和弹簧相对于转矩反转机构的几何形状，我们证明我们可以实现具有不同起飞速度的跳跃微型机器人，具体取决于致动器输入（可变跳跃），以及那些具有几乎相同起飞速度的微型机器人，而与致动器输入无关（定型跳跃）。在这个系统中，弹簧特性和几何形状之间的耦合对资源有限的微型机器人具有好处，并且我们的工作突出了与限制它的其他组合相比，对输出具有协同影响的设计组合。这项工作将为资源有限的跳跃式微型机器人的控制提供新的设计原则。
