KARSHRUHE, Germany – Week of May 6th
UW_NRG (The University of Waterloo Nanorobotics Group) attended NIST’s International Conference for Robotics and Automation (ICRA) earlier this month, representing Canada and University of Waterloo undergrads. At the conference, the team presented their new robot SAM (Solenoid Actuated Microrobot) to an audience of delegates from respected scientific universities and institutions all over the world. The team also used their reliable robot EMMA (ElectroMagnetic Microrobotic Actuation) to compete in this year’s Mobile Microrobotics Challenge. One challenge, the Autonomous Mobility Challenge, required teams to move their robots in a figure-eight pattern as quickly as possible three times (video: http://youtu.be/93cH4wOQaMI). UW_NRG achieved an amazing average time of .33 seconds for EMMA’s figure-eight, winning first place for that challenge. The race was close, however, and UW_NRG beat the second place team, Carnegie Mellon University, by only .02 seconds, and University of Texas was only 1 second behind. All other teams had average times of over a minute. This is the second time UW_NRG has placed first in a Mobile Microrobotics Challenge event since they began competing in 2009, the first time being in 2011.
EMMA, which is UW_NRG’s most successful robot so far, is approximately 300 x 300 μm in size, and made of a thin film of a cobalt-nickel-manganese-phosphorous alloy. This alloy is magnetic, and allows the robot to be controlled by an external magnetic field. A neodymium magnet is used to supply the magnetic field. The magnet is controlled by a C# program, and when the magnet moves, the robot moves. SAM, which made its debut at ICRA this year, is based on a concept similar to EMMA. Instead of using a neodymium magnet to control the magnetic field, the magnetic field is controlled using solenoids. Four solenoids are positioned around SAM’s stage, with one solenoid underneath that can act as a brake. The solenoids act as inductors, and when electricity is applied, they generate the magnetic field that directs the robot.
UW_NRG is always working hard to improve their microrobots, and innovating to develop new robots. Currently, UW_NRG has five robots, including EMMA and SAM. The other robots are PAMELA (Pump Actuation Mediated by Excited Light Absorption), SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave), and Microcopter.
If you would like to learn more about UW_NRG’s robots and what they do, visit uwnrg.org . Follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/uwnrg) or like us on Facebook (facebook.com/uwnrg).
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