Design and control of compliant microrobots

This paper deals with the design, building and control of compliant microrobots. Some prototypes of micromodules and microrobots using the micro-stereophotolithography technology were developed. The mechanical structure of these microrobots are made in polymer and the actuators are made of shape memory alloy wires. Some examples are presented in the paper. They are typically 2 mm to 700 μm in diameter and are compliant structures including a deforming joint. Our present research concerns with the control of compliant motions of such microsystems using neural networks with an extension to the integrated design of microrobots