Microscopic Robots That Sense, Think, Act, and Compute

While miniaturization has been a goal in robotics for nearly 40 years, roboticists have struggled to access sub-millimeter dimensions without making sacrifices to on-board information processing due to the unique physics of the microscale. Consequently, microrobots often lack the key features that distinguish their macroscopic cousins from other machines, namely on-robot systems for decision making, sensing, feedback, and programmable computation. Here, we take up the challenge of building a microrobot comparable in size to a single-celled paramecium that can sense, think, and act using onboard systems for computation, sensing, memory, locomotion, and communication. Built massively in parallel with fully lithographic processing, these microrobots can execute digitally defined algorithms and autonomously change behavior in response to their surroundings. Combined, these results pave the way for general purpose microrobots that can be programmed many times in a simple setup, cost under $0.01 per machine, and work together to carry out tasks without supervision in uncertain environments.

Learning In-Hand Translation Using Tactile Skin With Shear and Normal Force Sensing

Recent progress in reinforcement learning (RL) and tactile sensing has significantly advanced dexterous manipulation. However, these methods often utilize simplified tactile signals due to the gap between tactile simulation and the real world. We introduce a sensor model for tactile skin that enables zero-shot sim-to-real transfer of ternary shear and binary normal forces. Using this model, we develop an RL policy that leverages sliding contact for dexterous in-hand translation. We conduct extensive real-world experiments to assess how tactile sensing facilitates policy adaptation to various unseen object properties and robot hand orientations. We demonstrate that our 3-axis tactile policies consistently outperform baselines that use only shear forces, only normal forces, or only proprioception. Website: https://jessicayin.github.io/tactile-skin-rl/

A Single Motor Nano Aerial Vehicle with Novel Peer-to-Peer Communication and Sensing Mechanism

Communication and position sensing are among the most important capabilities for swarm robots to interact with their peers and perform tasks collaboratively. However, the hardware required to facilitate communication and position sensing is often too complicated, expensive, and bulky to be carried on swarm robots. Here we present Maneuverable Piccolissimo 3 (MP3), a minimalist, single motor drone capable of executing inter-robot communication via infrared light and triangulation-based sensing of relative bearing, distance, and elevation using message arrival time. Thanks to its novel design, MP3 can communicate with peers and localize itself using simple components, keeping its size and mass small and making it inherently safe for human interaction. Here we present the hardware and software design of MP3 and demonstrate its capability to localize itself, fly stably and maneuver in the environment using peer-to-peer communication and sensing.

Continuous Sculpting: Persistent Swarm Shape Formation Adaptable to Local Environmental Changes

Despite their growing popularity, swarms of robots remain limited by the operating time of each individual. We present algorithms which allow a human to sculpt a swarm of robots into a shape that persists in space perpetually, independent of onboard energy constraints such as batteries. Robots generate a path through a shape such that robots cycle in and out of the shape. Robots inside the shape react to human initiated changes and adapt the path through the shape accordingly. Robots outside the shape recharge and return to the shape so that the shape can persist indefinitely. The presented algorithms communicate shape changes throughout the swarm using message passing and robot motion. These algorithms enable the swarm to persist through any arbitrary changes to the shape. We describe these algorithms in detail and present their performance in simulation and on a swarm of mobile robots. The result is a swarm behavior more suitable for extended duration, dynamic shape-based tasks in applications such as agriculture and emergency response.

Holonomic Control of Arbitrary Configurations of Docked Modboats

The Modboat is a low-cost, underactuated, modular robot capable of surface swimming, docking to other modules, and undocking from them using only a single motor and two passive flippers. Undocking is achieved by causing intentional self-collision between the tails of neighboring modules in certain configurations; this becomes a challenge, however, when collective swimming as one connected component is desirable. Prior work has developed controllers that turn arbitrary configurations of docked Modboats into steerable vehicles, but they cannot counteract lateral forces and disturbances. In this work we present a centralized control strategy to create holonomic vehicles out of arbitrary configurations of docked Modboats using an iterative potential-field based search. We experimentally demonstrate that our controller performs well and can control surge and sway velocities and yaw angle simultaneously.

Electroadhesive Clutches for Programmable Shape Morphing of Soft Actuators

Soft robotic actuators are safe and adaptable devices with inherent compliance, which makes them attractive for manipulating delicate and complex objects. Researchers have integrated stiff materials into soft actuators to increase their force capacity and direct their deformation. However, these embedded materials have largely been pre-prescribed and static, which constrains the actuators to a predetermined range of motion. In this work, electroadhesive (EA) clutches integrated on a single-chamber soft pneumatic actuator (SPA) provide local programmable stiffness modulation to control the actuator deformation. We show that activating different clutch patterns inflates a silicone membrane into pyramidal, round, and plateau shapes. Curvatures from these shapes are combined during actuation to apply forces on both a 3.7 g and 820 g object along five different degrees of freedom (DoF). The actuator workspace is up to 12 mm for light objects. Clutch deactivation, which results in local elastomeric expansion, rapidly applies forces up to 3.2 N to an object resting on the surface and launches a 3.7 g object in controlled directions. The actuator also rotates a heavier, 820 g, object by 5 degrees and rapidly restores it to horizontal alignment after clutch deactivation. This actuator is fully powered by a 5 V battery, AA battery, DC-DC transformer, and 4.5 V (63 g) DC air pump. These results demonstrate a first step towards realizing a soft actuator with high DoF shape change that preserves the inherent benefits of pneumatic actuation while gaining the electrical controllability and strength of EA clutches. We envision such a system supplying human contact forces in the form of a low-profile sit-to-stand assistance device, bed-ridden patient manipulator, or other ergonomic mechanism. This technology was also demonstrated at ICRA 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y6-iHWNi6s

Collective Control for Arbitrary Configurations of Docked Modboats

The Modboat is a low-cost, underactuated, modular robot capable of surface swimming, docking to other modules, and undocking from them using only a single motor and two passive flippers. Undocking is achieved by causing intentional self-collision between the tails of neighboring modules in certain configurations; this becomes a challenge, however, when collective swimming as one connected component is desirable. In this work, we develop a centralized control strategy to allow \textit{arbitrary} configurations of Modboats to swim as a single steerable vehicle and guarantee no accidental undocking. We also present a simplified model for hydrodynamic interactions between boats in a configuration that is tractable for real-time control. We experimentally demonstrate that our controller performs well, is consistent for configurations of various sizes and shapes, and can control both surge velocity and yaw angle simultaneously. Controllability is maintained while swimming, but pure yaw control causes lateral movement that cannot be counteracted by the presented framework.

Multimodal Proximity and Visuotactile Sensing With a Selectively Transmissive Soft Membrane

The most common sensing modalities found in a robot perception system are vision and touch, which together can provide global and highly localized data for manipulation. However, these sensing modalities often fail to adequately capture the behavior of target objects during the critical moments as they transition out of static, controlled contact with an end-effector to dynamic and uncontrolled motion. In this work, we present a novel multimodal visuotactile sensor that provides simultaneous visuotactile and proximity depth data. The sensor integrates an RGB camera and air pressure sensor to sense touch with an infrared time-of-flight (ToF) camera to sense proximity by leveraging a selectively transmissive soft membrane to enable the dual sensing modalities. We present the mechanical design, fabrication techniques, algorithm implementations, and evaluation of the sensor's tactile and proximity modalities. The sensor is demonstrated in three open-loop robotic tasks: approaching and contacting an object, catching, and throwing. The fusion of tactile and proximity data could be used to capture key information about a target object's transition behavior for sensor-based control in dynamic manipulation.

Amplitude Control for Parallel Lattices of Docked Modboats

The Modboat is a low-cost, underactuated, modular robot capable of surface swimming. It is able to swim individually, dock to other Modboats, and undock from them using only a single motor and two passive flippers. Undocking without additional actuation is achieved by causing intentional self-collision between the tails of neighboring modules; this becomes a challenge when group swimming as one connected component is desirable. In this work, we develop a control strategy to allow parallel lattices of Modboats to swim as a single unit, which conventionally requires holonomic modules. We show that the control strategy is guaranteed to avoid unintentional undocking and minimizes internal forces within the lattice. Experimental verification shows that the controller performs well and is consistent for lattices of various sizes. Controllability is maintained while swimming, but pure yaw control causes lateral movement that cannot be counteracted by the presented framework.

A Low-Cost, Highly Customizable Solution for Position Estimation in Modular Robots

Accurate position sensing is important for state estimation and control in robotics. Reliable and accurate position sensors are usually expensive and difficult to customize. Incorporating them into systems that have very tight volume constraints such as modular robots are particularly difficult. PaintPots are low-cost, reliable, and highly customizable position sensors, but their performance is highly dependent on the manufacturing and calibration process. This paper presents a Kalman filter with a simplified observation model developed to deal with the non-linearity issues that result in the use of low-cost microcontrollers. In addition, a complete solution for the use of PaintPots in a variety of sensing modalities including manufacturing, characterization, and estimation is presented for an example modular robot, SMORES-EP. This solution can be easily adapted to a wide range of applications.