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Small-Scale Robotics : An Introduction

  • Conference paper
Small-Scale Robotics. From Nano-to-Millimeter-Sized Robotic Systems and Applications (ICRA 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 8336))

Abstract

The term small-scale robotics describes a wide variety of miniature robotic systems, ranging from millimeter sized devices down to autonomous mobile systems with dimensions measured in nanometers. Unified by the common goal of enabling applications that require tiny mobile robots, research in small-scaled robotics has produced a variety of novel miniature robotic systems in the last decade. As the size of the robots scale down, the physics that governs the mode of operation, power delivery, and control change dramatically, restricting how these devices operate, and requiring novel engineering solutions to enable their functionality. This chapter provides an overview and introduction to small-scale robotics, drawing parallels to systems presented later in the book. Comparison to biological systems is also presented, using biology to speculate regarding future capabilities of robotic systems at the various size scales.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA

    Igor Paprotny

  2. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Sarah Bergbreiter

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  1. Igor Paprotny
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  1. Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, 851 S. Morgan st., SEO 1020, 60607, Chicago, IL, USA

    Igor Paprotny

  2. Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, 2170 Glenn L. Martin Hall, 20742, College Park, MD, USA

    Sarah Bergbreiter

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Paprotny, I., Bergbreiter, S. (2014). Small-Scale Robotics : An Introduction. In: Paprotny, I., Bergbreiter, S. (eds) Small-Scale Robotics. From Nano-to-Millimeter-Sized Robotic Systems and Applications. ICRA 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8336. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55134-5_1

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