糖心Vlog视频

Robotics Revolution

With their surveillance, crowd-control, and intelligence-gathering skills, the tiny robots that UT Arlington researchers are inventing and mass-producing could transform the defense industry.

The slight creature scurrying through the leaves pauses. It darts left to avoid a fallen branch, flattens itself to crawl under yet another branch, them clambers over a pile of refuse before hesitating, as if testing the air. Or scouting an enemy. Or听both.

As small as it is鈥攕maller and lighter than a deck of cards with legs鈥攊t is transporting even smaller creatures that will soon power up and fan out, testing water and air, listening and watching, perhaps clinging to anything that moves and communicating its location. Maybe they鈥檒l be weapons, going where no person could safely go. They may see in the dark, hear in the silence.

Clearly these are not biological creatures, though they can emulate biological forms by walking and possibly swimming and flying. No, they鈥檙e microrobots, essentially sensors of all kinds but with a handy capacity. They can move, take orders, communicate. They can function in harsh environments. Best of all, they鈥檙e cheap and expendable, perhaps even self-destructing when their usefulness ends.

And their future is almost now at UT Arlington鈥檚 糖心Vlog视频 Microfactory, a component of the College of Engineering鈥檚 (ARRI) in Fort Worth. The 糖心Vlog视频 Microfactory is a global leader in developing microsystems, one component of which is tiny robotic devices that can be mass-manufactured.

Leading the interdisciplinary effort are half a dozen scientists and graduate students who combine forces in robotics, microtechnology, and even chemistry to make what ARRI Director Harry Stephanou calls 鈥渇lea-sized robots.鈥�

鈥�FLEA鈥� MARKET

Dr. Stephanou believes microsystems will be a major U.S. industry, creating tens of thousands of jobs. The Defense Department has invested almost $11 million in microsystems at ARRI, with more likely to听come.

鈥�Our defense-oriented work includes research and applications related to swarms of small robots,鈥� Stephanou says. 鈥淭hese can be used for surveillance, for crowd control and dispersal, intelligence gathering, or many other functions.鈥�

Microrobotics specialist Mohammad Mayyas, a faculty associate researcher at ARRI, says the microfactory has almost perfected the larger devices. 鈥淣ow we鈥檙e working on ways to make tinier and more flexible robots for real-world applications.鈥�

Here鈥檚 a quick lesson in microrobotic basics. First, microrobots come with two mechanical styles, discrete and continuous. Discrete models tend to be 鈥渂igger鈥濃�攁 few centimeters long鈥攚ith mechanical parts like legs or wheels, tiny motors, and batteries. Continuous models are usually smaller and manufactured in what appears to be a single piece, though in fact they are composite structures folded into techno-origamis. Their power may come from acoustic or radio waves since they鈥檙e too small to carry batteries.

Second, think of microrobots in three sizes. The first are measured in centimeters. The microfactory鈥檚 two centimeter models are called 鈥淪tarbot鈥� and 鈥淐asper.鈥� Starbot walks with a unique leg system; Casper essentially rolls. Two microfactory devices in the second group are measured in millimeters and are made through molding, stamping, folding, and assembling. They look somewhat insect-like, which is why they鈥檙e named 鈥淎RRIpede鈥� and 鈥淔lea.鈥� The smallest devices are measured in micrometers鈥攁 human hair is about 150 micrometers鈥攁nd the microfactory鈥檚 two models have been labeled 鈥溌礣ags鈥� and 鈥淰ibrobot.鈥�

鈥�We think we鈥檙e less than a year away from having manufacturable models of the centimeter size, two years or fewer from the millimeter size, and perhaps five years from the micrometer models,鈥� Stephanou says. 鈥淏ut extra funding could speed up that process.鈥�

For Stephanou and the microfactory team, manufacturable is a key听word.

鈥�So often there鈥檚 a disconnect between academic research and the realities of manufacturing. Just because you can make something in a lab that works doesn鈥檛 mean you can quickly and cheaply turn out 100 or 500 or 1,000 or more units. Our emphasis isn鈥檛 just on researching microrobotics. We focus on how to make them and many other microsystems a viable industry.鈥�

BEYOND PROTOTYPES

Stephanou鈥檚 technological Holy Grail is converting ARRI鈥檚 specialized niche into a real-world economic development driver for 糖心Vlog视频 and the nation.

鈥�We want to create jobs,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he way to create jobs is to build the economy of the future. The microsystems industry is the way to create tens of thousands of jobs. Academic research and development is wonderful from a science standpoint, but it doesn鈥檛 tell us what industry needs in the way of microrobotics.鈥�

What鈥檚 needed, he says, is 鈥渧ery听clear.鈥�

鈥�They need to move from chips to working devices and from there to collections of devices, or systems. That first jump typically accounts for 85 percent of the cost of the devices.鈥�

In short, say ARRI team members Woo Ho Lee and Rakesh Murthy, industry wants actual manufacturing processes鈥攖he ability to make the tiny robots on a kind of assembly line.

鈥�Our goal is not only to create products but also the technology to create the products,鈥� Dr. Murthy says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what鈥檚 called concurrent engineering.鈥�

The laboratories at the 糖心Vlog视频 Microfactory are doing just that, producing micromachining modules operating in clean rooms that can turn out the little robots in big numbers. And sometimes very economically.

鈥�Sometimes the tools and devices needed to do this don鈥檛 exist in the marketplace,鈥� Murthy says. 鈥淪o we have to either make them or modify existing products.鈥�

The idea is to create micromachining modules that become assembly lines utilizing as many existing components as possible. This ability to create commercially viable manufacturing systems is a critical distinction for ARRI and the microfactory.

鈥�We differentiate ourselves because we have a chain from innovation to research and development, prototyping, and pilot production,鈥� Stephanou says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no other university that I have ever seen鈥攅ven in Germany where they鈥檙e good at this sort of thing鈥攖hat includes pilot production.鈥�

For example, a company might have developed a prototype in the lab and now wants to make batches of 100, or 1,000, or 10,000.

鈥�They look around and say, 鈥榃here do we buy the equipment for the actual manufacturing?鈥� 鈥� Stephanou says. 鈥淔or this kind of technology, the answer often is that the equipment does not exist. And they don鈥檛 have a process to make it exist. We do. That鈥檚 the value in what we鈥檙e doing. We can make such projects viable.鈥�

Microfactory engineers are building machines鈥攎anufacturing modules鈥攖hat can create microrobots at the nano, micron, and millimeter levels.

鈥�The micron level seems to be the sweet spot with the greatest demand right now,鈥� Stephanou says. 鈥淥ur specialty is that we can produce small runs of devices or products for private companies or government.鈥�

If a company wants to develop 500 units鈥攐r 2,000鈥攖he microfactory can develop the process and produce the device, such as tiny robots that can carry all kinds of payloads.

When thinking about microsystems, Stephanou believes that it鈥檚 critical to remain 鈥渢echnologically agnostic.鈥�

鈥�All too often, scientists or researchers become fixated on one technology or material or another,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e try to go with what works. If that means using silicon or glass or polymers or metals鈥攎olding, stamping, and folding鈥攖hat鈥檚 what we鈥檒l do. There鈥檚 no one-technology-fits-all when it comes to making tiny robots or other microsystems.鈥�

He believes UT Arlington is setting the听pace.

鈥�We鈥檙e only just now scratching the surface of what has enormous economic potential. In my view, we aren鈥檛 just one of the front-runners. We are the world university leader in manufacturable microsystems.鈥�

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