Battery-free Autonomous Microrobotics

ABSTRACT — This talk 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. This work challenges the conventional assumption that locomotion is beyond the reach of battery-free robots and demonstrates several approaches for achieving autonomous operation in realistic applications and unusual and remote environments. The significant reduction in energy requirement achieved by miniaturizing robots to near gram size will be discussed. Electromechanical and structural innovations, that include shape changing leaf-out origami robotics capable of flying in the wind and for sensor dispersal will be described . Innovative work aimed at creating miniaturized helicopters and jumping robots will also be discussed.

SPEAKER — Kyle Johnson is a fourth year Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington and the co-founder and current Executive Director of the outreach nonprofit AVELA – A Vision for Engineering Literacy & Access. He works with Professors Vikram Iyer and Sawyer Fuller to explore how combinations of low-power actuation and control mechanisms can be used to create autonomous microrobots. Kyle Johnson’s work has been recognized by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Quad Fellowship, Amazon Science Hub Fellowship, Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium, and the National GEM Consortium. His publications have appeared in Science Robotics and the ACM MobiCom conference and have garnered widespread media attention including by the NSF, GeekWire, Popular Science, and IEEE.

Colloquium Committee Sponsor: James B. Heaney, James.B.Heaney@nasa.gov

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