An Ultrasonic Standing-wave-actuated Nano-positioning Walking Robot: Piezoelectric-metal Composite Beam Modeling

Abstract

This paper proposes a design for a precision positioning miniature walking robot using piezoelectric unimorph actuators. The theoretical working equations of a uniform piezoelectric unimorph beam are derived based on the linear piezoelectric relations, Hamilton’s principle, and Euler-Bernoulli beam equation. Themodal superposition method is used to determine the response of the forced transverse vibration of the beam under the effect of electrical signal inputs to the patterned piezoelectric element. Two standing waves corresponding to the third and fourth bending vibration modes are utilized to achieve the bi-directional walking mechanism for a miniature positioning robot. Design strategies and the fabrication method for the proposed walking robot are introduced. Preliminary performance tests of the robot prototype are carried out successfully, and the robot achieves speeds of 5.86 cm/sec and 3.37 cm/sec in forward and backward motion, respectively.

Keywords

Piezoelectric actuators nanopositioning miniature robots ultrasonic actuation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aoyama, H. , 1998, “Precise miniature robots and desktop flexible production,” in Proceedings of the International Workshop on Microfactories, Tsukuba, Japan, pp. 145-156 .

Aoyama, H. and Fuchiwaki, O. , 2001, “Flexible micro-processing by multiple micro robots in SEM,” in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Korea, pp. 3429-3434 .

Ebefors, T. , Mattsson, J. U. , Kälvesten, E. , and Stemme, G. , 1999, “A walking silicon micro-robot,” in Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators (Transducers’99), Sendai, Japan, pp. 1202-1205 .

Egashira, Y. , Kosaka, K. , Takada, S. , Iwabuchi, T. , Baba, T. , Moriyama, S. , Harada, T. , Nagamoto, K. , Nakada, A. , Kubota, H. , and Ohim, T. , 2001, “0.69 nm resolution ultrasonic motor for large stroke precision stage,” in Proceedings of the 2001 1st IEEE Conference on Nanotechnology, pp. 397-402 .

Ferreira, A. and Fontaine, J. G. , 2003, “Dynamic modeling and control of a conveyance microrobotic system using active friction drive,” IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics 8(2), 88-202 .

He, S. , Chen, W. , Tao, X. , and Chen, Z. , 1998

“Standing wave bi-directional linearly moving ultrasonic motor,”

IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics & Frequency Control 45(5), 1133-1139 .

Juhas, L. , 2000, “Development of platform for micro-positioning actuated by piezo-legs,” in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, San Francisco, CA, pp. 3647-3653 .

Kim, T. , Park, J. , Kim, D. H. , and Lee, K. I. , 2002, “Compact 3-DoF mobile microrobot for micro/nano manipulation system,” in Proceedings of the International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems, Korea, pp. 947-951 .

Kladitis, P. E. , Bright, V. M. , Harsh, K. F. , and Lee, Y. C. , 1999, “Prototype microrobots for micro positioning in a manufacturing process and micro unmanned vehicles,” in Proceedings of the12th IEEE International Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Conference (SEMS 99), Orlando, FL, pp. 570-575 .

10.

Koynagi, T. , Fukui, R. , Torii, A. , and Ueda, A. , 2000, “miniature robots with three degrees of freedom,” in Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Micromechatronics and Human Science, pp. 207-212 .

11.

Law, W. W. , Liao, W. , and Huang, J. , 2003, “Vibration control of structures with self-sensing piezoelectric actuators incorporating adaptive mechanisms,” Smart Materials and Structures, 12, 720-730 .

12.

Martel, S. , Riebel, S. , Koker, T. , Sherwood, M. , and Hunter, I. , 2001, “Large-scale nanorobotic factory automation based on the NanoWalker technology,” in Proceedings of the 8th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, Nice, France, Vol. 2, pp. 591-597 .

13.

Martel, S. , Saraswat, A. , Michel, A. , and Hunter, I. , 2000 “Preliminary evaluation and experimentation of the push-slip method for achieving micrometer and sub-micrometer step sizes with a miniature piezo-actuated three-legged robot operating under high normal forces,” in Proceedings of SPIE: Microrobotics and Microassembly, Boston, MA, Vol. 4194, pp. 141-148 .

14.

Moal, P. L. , Joseph, E. , and Ferniot, J. , 2000, “Mechanical energy transductions in standing wave ultrasonic motors: Analytical modeling and experimental investagations,” European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids 19, 849-771 .

15.

Stefanini, C. , Carrozza, M. C. , and Dario, P. , 1996, “A mobile microrobot driven by a new type of electromagnetic micromotor,” in Proceedings of the 7th IEEE International Symposium on Micro Machine and Human Science, pp. 195-201 .

16.

Tanikawa, T. , Arai, T. , Ojala, P. , and Saeki, M. , 1995, “Calibration and basic motion of a micro hand module,” in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp 1674-1679 .

17.

Uchino, K. , 1998, “Piezoelectric ultrasonic motors: Overview,” Smart Materials and Structures(7), 273-285 .

18.

Wang, Q. , Du, X. , Xu, B. , and Cross, L. , 1999

“Electromechanical coupling and output efficiency of piezoelectric bending actuators,”

IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics & Frequency Control 46, 638-646 .