Initial results of a new type of locomotion for a wireless instrumented robot capable of subatomic movements

A small and very sophisticated nano-motion wireless fully autonomous instrumented robot capable of subatomic movements is under development in our laboratory. The robot named “NanoWalker” should bring a new paradigm in the way instruments are built while providing a sophisticated platform for a new range of applications including but not limited to synthesizing and testing of very large number of chemical and biological compounds. Although most of the electronics embedded in the robot has been designed the first phase of the project involved primarily the investigation of this new legged locomotion based on piezo-actuators. This paper describes the first experimental results of this new type of locomotion acquired with a set-up using a tethered version of the robot