prof. Becker's seminar at SISSA

[Emanuele Tuillier Illingworth]

MATHLAB SEMINAR ANNOUNCEMENT


Speaker: Felix Becker (TU Ilmenau, Department of Mechanical Engineering)

Room: SISSA - Santorio A - room 133

Abstract:
This talk concerns the mechanics of vibration-driven robots for solid 
and liquid environments. New prototypes are presented and investigated 
using analytical, numerical and experimental methods. Established mobile 
robots are designed mostly for a limited field of applications and 
artificial environmental conditions. Especially in the vast field of 
inspection technologies, robot designs are needed, which are light, 
fast, cheap and equipped with efficient actuators to provide a high 
mobility. Vibration-driven locomotion systems have a great potential to 
suit these requirements. They are characterized by an internal periodic 
excitation, which is transformed to a directed motion due to asymmetric 
properties of the system. Our aim is to use only one vibration actuator. 
Robots with bristles are a common realization. Different working 
principles are studied based on a rigid body model and experimental 
investigations. A prototype for the locomotion in tubes is presented. To 
perform a controllable two-dimensional locomotion with only one 
actuator, it is needed to overcome the limits of rigid body systems. The 
applied approach uses the frequency-dependent vibration behavior of 
elastic systems, like beams and plates. Models of continuum mechanics 
and finite element methods are used and supported by experiments. Based 
on the investigations, a programmable and remote controlled prototype is 
developed. The locomotion of it can be controlled on different surfaces 
by a change of the excitation frequency. The velocity of the prototype 
is up to 100 mm/s and it can support five times its own weight. 
Concluding, an innovative prototype with a single piezoelectric actuator 
for a controllable locomotion on flat ground and floating in fluids is 
developed. The terrestrial and aquatic locomotion behavior of the robot 
is investigated. The carrying capacity of it is calculated using a 
hydrostatic model.

Venue: Wednesday, 21 October, 2015 - 14:00