Battery-free Gram-scale Robots that Move Autonomously

I will present battery-free autonomous microrobots that can fly in the wind or drive independently on the ground using microwatts of harvested energy from light or radio waves. These mobile sensing platforms could have a transformative impact in applications from agricultural monitoring, hazardous infrastructure inspection, exploring extraterrestrial environments, and reconfiguring camera networks. This work challenges the conventional assumption that locomotion is beyond the reach of battery-free robots, demonstrates several approaches for achieving autonomous operation in realistic application scenarios, and opens up a discussion on the practicality of large scale mobile sensor deployments in remote environments. I will discuss how miniaturizing robots to near the gram scale can significantly reduce their energy requirements, which when combined with cyber-mechanical innovations can enable autonomous battery-free mobility. I will explain how we leveraged origami to create shape changing leaf-out origami robots that can fly in the wind to disperse sensors. I will also explain how we leveraged intermittent motion to enable battery-free robots that can roll around on the ground. Finally, I will present preliminary work towards creating miniaturized helicopters and jumping robots.

Speaker: Kyle Johnson, University of Washington