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We studied bending of multilayered graphene into 3D structure. In this paper, we proposed a nanogripper folded by multilayered graphene as one of the 3D device. The nanogripper is actuated by electro static forces to open and close. The multilayered graphene was fabricated by focused ion beam (FIB) to form nano-gripper design. Reversible action is realized by controlled two different electrodes. In...
We report highly tunable nanoelectromechanical systems NEMS shallow arches under dc excitation voltages. Silicon based in-plane doubly clamped bridges, slightly curved as shallow arches, are fabricated using standard electron beam lithography and surface nanomachining of a highly conductive device layer on a silicon-on-insulator wafer. By designing the structures to have gap to thickness ratio of...
The preponderance of research into flying microrobots has focused on biomimetic flight mechanisms. In this work, we demonstrate an insect-scale robot capable of vertical takeoff using electrohydrodynamic thrust, a mechanism with no natural analogue. The 10mg, 1.8cm by 1.8cm “ionocraft” operates at about 2400 volts and has a thrust to weight ratio of approximately 10. Feasibility of using individually...
Stroke and other neurological pathologies are an increasing cause of hand impairment, involving expensive rehabilitative therapies. In this scenario, robotics applied to hand rehabilitation and assistance appears particularly promising in order to lower therapy costs and boost its efficacy. This work shows a recently conceived hand exoskeleton, from the design and realization to its preliminary evaluation...
The efficiency of PV systems is significantly reduced due to the accumulation of dust on the surface of the panels in arid regions. This study presents a brief survey of existing panel-cleaning methods followed by the implementation of a cleaning system based on high-voltage dielectrophoresis (DEP). Using a DEP approach allows for a low-cost, power-efficient cleaning mechanism without the need for...
This work reports on preliminary results about on hand movement recognition with Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS) and surface ElectroMyoGraphy (sEMG). Either basing on physical contact (touchscreens, data-gloves, etc.), vision techniques (Microsoft Kinect, Sony PlayStation Move, etc.), or other modalities, hand movement recognition is a pervasive function in today environment and it is at the base...
A microparts manipulation application is presented. A PCB platform and plastic microparts with rectangular embedded conductive electrodes are designed. The electrostatic forces applied by the platform electrodes are calculated with F.E.M. analysis and the dynamic model of the microparts motion is used for the simulation of the motion. The proposed activation algorithms of the platform electrodes are...
This paper presents a highly flexible, stretchable and ultrathin piezoresistive tactile sensor array, which can be attached to a tactile display actuator array [1] without any influence on its motion. Its operational principal is based on the resistance changing of a tactile cell array prepared by blending a precise conductive polymer — Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)...
In this study, we demonstrate the characteristics of an electrovibration tactile display with a 1 mm resolution. Electrovibration is one of the promising stimulus methods for mobile tactile devices because of its simplicity in terms of structure of the tactile display and principle. While several groups have developed electrovibration tactile displays, the resolution of the displays have not been...
In recent years, Fluorinated ketone (FK), [C2F5C(O)CF(CF3)2] has been considered as an alternative fluid to replace Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in high voltage thermosyphons due to their environmentally friendly properties.
The objective of the project is to develop a model for the capacitive ultrasonic transducer described in the Ladabaum et al., [1] paper. The main element of the transducer is a metalized silicon nitride membrane suspended on a rigid support above a heavily doped silicon bulk. The cavity under the membrane is vacuumed. When a voltage is applied between the metalized membrane and the bulk, the Coulomb...
We present a new method of rendering haptic textures that utilizes electrostatic and magnetic fields. In conventional research, a single physical quantity is used to render haptic textures. By contrast, our method combines multiple fields (electrostatic and magnetic). Although these fields have no direct interference, combining them provides benefits such as the ability to produce multi-resolution...
This study presents a method to use copper nodules to induce dielectrophoresis force. It can be applied in biomedical cell capture. The capture electrode is a 3D interdigitated microelectrode and also can be used in electrical cell impedance measurement. No additional procedural is needed to form copper nodules. The process is easy, convenient, and the same as a normal 3D electrode manufacture.
A 6-axis force/torque (F/T) information is important to improve the performance of robotic applications. This paper presents a novel design of 6-axis F/T sensor that provides much simple configuration and easy fabrication/assembly processes. To use the space of the sensor efficiently, a new capacitance sensing cell is designed to detect a normal and a shear forces at the same time. The configuration...
In this paper, a capacitive type torque sensor for cooperative robot manipulators is proposed. Flexure structures are used to increase its sensitivity while maintaining the high stiffness between input and output. The sensor can measure external torque of the joint by sensing capacitance of the parallel electrode plates which are attached to the flexure structures. Symmetrically placed 4 sets of electrodes...
Dielectrophoretic force has been used to manipulate biological microparticles, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, cancer cells, etc… This technique has been used for trapping, sorting and separating biological particles suspended in a buffer medium. The strength of dielectrophoretic force depends strongly on the particle's electrical properties, the geometry of the microfluidic device, dielectric...
Current Brain Computer Interface (BCI) systems are limited by relying on neuronal spikes and decoding limited to kinematics only. For a BCI system to be practically useful, it should be able to decode brain information on a continuous basis with low latency. This study investigates if force can be decoded from local field potentials (LFP) recorded with deep brain electrodes located at the Subthalamic...
Motor imagery based BCIs are one of the most important BCI paradigms. Although it has been studied for a long time, the EEG features for kinetic information of motor imagery are still less known. In this paper, we explored EEG patterns of hand force motor imagery. Six subjects participated in this study, who were required to imagine clenching their hands with two different levels of force during the...
A multilayer fabrication method has been used to create crawling soft robots based on dielectric elastomer actuators. These actuators are created without the need for pre-stretch, eliminating the need for rigid components. A four-legged, multi-gait capable crawler can be fabricated in a matter of hours and shows promise for future untethered systems. Studies on inchworm robots show them to be the...
This paper presents a system-level, physic-based compact model of a novel out-of-plane capacitive MEMS transducer based on a combination of plate- and comb-capacitor drives. Unlike conventional plate-capacitor-like transducers both electrodes of this novel device are movable. This feature results in a device dynamics analogous to a weakly coupled two-degree-of-freedom oscillator system. An analysis...
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