Abstract
Given inspiration from the natural hair receptors of animals, sensors based on micro/nanofibers are considered as a significant and promising solution for improving the intelligence and automation of microrobots in the future. Thus, we introduce in this chapter the concept and design of some novel artificial hair receptors for the sensing system of microintelligent robots. The natural hair receptor of animals, also called cilium or filiform hair by different research groups, is usually used as a sensitive element for slight disturbance by insects, mammals and fishes, such as a detector for ambient vibration, flow or tactile information. At first, focusing on the development of biomimetic sensory abilities for an undulatory soft-body lamprey-like robot, piezoresistive sensory elements based on highly soft silicone rubber matrix are presented. On the other hand, micro-artificial hair receptor based on suspended PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) microfibers is also designed to address useful applications for microrobots working in unstructured environments. Both these cilia shaped sensors show a reliable response with good sensibility to external disturbance, as well as a good prospect in the application on sensing system of mini/microbiorobots.
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Acknowledgements
The activity presented in this chapter is partially supported by LAMPETRA Project (EU Contract No. 216100), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China, Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars and Zhejiang Province Qianjiang Talents Project (2010R10012).
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Liu, W., Li, F., Fu, X., Stefanini, C., Dario, P. (2013). Development of Bioinspired Artificial Sensory Cilia. In: Zhang, D. (eds) Advanced Mechatronics and MEMS Devices. Microsystems, vol 23. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9985-6_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9985-6_10
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