Inspection robots with piezo actuators: modeling, simulation and prototypes

Abstract

Models, simulations and experimental setups of resonant inspection robots are presented. The goal is to show ways to cope with the new requirements and to use the given chances to create novel mobile robots. For the creation of a directed motion the vibration behavior of simple beams and plates is used. It is possible to design robots for 2-dimesnional locomotion which are characterized by a light weight, small size, relative simple design and the ability to create controllable motion using only one actuator. Different types of actuators for micro robots are presented and compared. Furthermore the dynamical behavior of a piezoelectric bending actuator under elastic boundary conditions is investigated and a model for the motion of the locomotion-generating limbs is presented. The comparison with experiments and prototypes shows that the results of the analytical and computational models agree (E-mail : Klaus.Zimmermann@tu_ilmenau.de)