Uncalibrated Three-Dimensional Microrobot Control
Abstract
The emerging field of microrobotics facilitates precise manipulation of objects at the microscale, which has many applications in medicine and microassembly. This project advanced both sensing and motion capabilities of the Naval Academys microrobot system, bringing it from a planar system to a three-dimensional system that utilizes an adaptive controller for autonomous operation. Reproducible, robust robot control is particularly challenging at the microscale, where lesser understood surface forces like friction dominate volumetric forces. In such an environment, an adaptive (or "uncalibrated") controller which can dynamically adjust to changes in the operation environment is essential. While many groups have already demonstrated the ability to control a microrobot in three dimensions through magnetically based actuation methods, very few have attempted to apply uncalibrated control algorithms to these systems. This project focused on first developing a magnetic actuation and visual sensor system for a microrobot in a three-dimensional fluidic environment, and then on the development of an uncalibrated controller, utilizing a Recursive Least Squares (RLS) estimation algorithm. With a given desired position, the adaptive controller drives the microrobot to the target position without any prior knowledge of the system parameters such as electromagnetic field strengths, drag coefficients, or intrinsic and extrinsic camera parameters.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 11, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1013469
Entities
People
- James F. Cooke
Organizations
- United States Naval Academy