Stanford Seminar - Multimaterial Design for Multifunctional Miniature Robots

April 14, 2023 Zhenish Zhakypov of Stanford University Small-scale animals like trap-jaw ants exhibit remarkable behaviors, not just through communication, but also via their adaptable jaw-jump and leg-jump mechanisms that enable them to thrive in diverse environments. These creatures have successfully tackled the challenges of miniaturization, multifunctionality, and multiplicity, which are critical factors in the development of small-scale robotic systems. By creating these abilities in mesoscale robots, we can unlock a vast array of applications. For instance, we could build artificial multi-locomotion swarms to explore and monitor diverse physical environments with high task efficiency or design compact and distributed haptic actuators to simulate compelling human touch interactions in virtual environments with high fidelity and minimal encumbrance. However, conventional design methods for creating miniature yet multifunctional robots are limited due to constraints in downsizing classical electric motors, transmission gears, and mechanisms. Additionally, increasing the number of components requires meticulous manual assembly processes. In this talk, I will delve into how multimaterial layer composition and folding (origami robotics) and 3D printing can enable miniature, multifunctional, and mass-manufacturable robots. I will provide insights into a systematic design methodology that breaks down mesoscale robot design in terms of mechanisms, geometry, materials, and fabrication, highlighting their relation and challenges. I will demonstrate unique robotic platforms built on this paradigm, including Tribots, 10-gram palm-sized multi-locomotion origami robots that jump, roll, and crawl to traverse uneven terrains and manipulate objects collectively, as well as shape-morphing grippers and structures. These robots use functional materials like shape memory alloy and fluids to achieve tunable power, compact actuators, and mechanisms. Additionally, I will present my l