Design of a Micro Piezo Actuated Gripper for a Swarm Robotic System

Kaygusuz B., TURGUT A. E.

13th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO), Lisbon, Portugal, 29 - 31 July 2016, pp.534-539 identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • City: Lisbon
  • Country: Portugal
  • Page Numbers: pp.534-539
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

In this paper, we introduced a novel micro swarm robotic platform, called the AttaBot, designed specifically for complex systems and swarm robotics research. The novelty of the AttaBot platform is two-folds. (1) Artificial pheromones are implemented, (2) Each AttaBot has a gripper to grip small discs on the ground. In this way, AttaBot platform can be used in many different swarm scenarios including foraging, collective motion and collective transport. We introduced the design of the AttaBot, focusing mainly on the gripper design. We designed a novel gripper using off-the-shelf piezostack materials. We simulated the performance of the gripper using COMSOL and depicted the results. We showed that the current design with the proper piezostack material is feasible and it can used in AttaBot.