Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

8-2019

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Degree Program

Electrical Engineering, MS

Committee Chair

Popa, Dan O.

Committee Member

Faul, Andre J.

Committee Member

Druffel, Thad L.

Author's Keywords

Micro robotics; MEMS; light power; micro factory; assembled; bluetooth

Abstract

Micro-Robotics looks to implement robotics principles at a small scale and has gained popularity in recent decades as a gateway to new research areas such as micro-factory applications. The SolarPede is a second-generation, cm-scale micro-crawler designed for such micro factory applications which is equipped with a legged locomotion system and an electronic backpack. The SolarPede is an evolution of its predecessors and features power and signal conditioning capabilities, gait pattern generation, and Bluetooth connectivity. The components which make up SolarPede have been full validated and tested, and its systems have been realized in the form of a body made from Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) actuators and the electronic backpack made from a pair of custom Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). The body and electronic backpack are connected through gold wire-bonding, and the completed system is programmed using Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter to the onboard Micro Controller. This work details the research findings during the design, validation, and fabrication of electronic systems for SolarPede. All testing procedures and experimental setups used in validation are described in this document. The experimental results show that SolarPede can be powered by white light generated using a solar simulator lamp and that it is capable of holonomic movement of a payload at 13 µm/s.

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