5. Digital Microrobotics Using MEMS Technology

Microrobotics deals with the design, fabrication, and control of microrobots to perform tasks in the microworld (i.e., the world of submillimetric objects). While end-effectors experienced considerable developments, few works concerned the development of microrobot architectures adapted to the microworld. Most of the current robots are bulky and are based on the miniaturization of traditional architectures and kinematics. In this chapter, we introduce a new approach for the design of microrobot architectures based on elementary mechanical bistable modules. This bottom-up approach called “digital microrobotics” takes advantage of MEMS technology and open-loop (sensorless) digital control to offer a flexible way to experiment various kinematics adapted to the microworld. A microfabricated bistable module is proposed and a complete digital microrobot is designed, modeled and fabricated. Digital microrobotics opens new perspectives in microrobots design and micromanipulation tasks.