Design and Analysis of Small Walking Robots Utilizing Piezoelectric Benders

Over the past decade, small robots have been of particular interest in the engineering field. Among the various types of small robots, biomimetic robots, which mimic animals and insects, have been developed for special activities in areas where humans cannot physically access. The optimal motion of a walking robot can be determined by the characteristics of the traversed surface (e.g., roughness, curvature, slope, materials, etc.). This study proposes three types of piezoelectric structures using different driving mechanisms, depending on the application range of the small walking robots. Dynamic modeling using computer-aided engineering optimized the shape of the robot to maximize its moving characteristics, and the results were also verified through its fabrication and experimentation. Three types of robots, named by their actuator shapes as I, π, & T-shape, were proposed regarding application for small scale ambulatory robots to different terrain conditions. Among these, the T-shaped robots were shown to have a wide range of speeds (from 2 mm/s up to 255 mm/s) and good carrying capacity (up to 10 g at 50 mm/s) through driving experiments. Based on this study, we proposed possible application areas for the three types of walking robot actuators.