Micro-origami robots: From single agents to microelectronic morphogenesis
Analogous to nature with its biological cells as basic building blocks for myriads of different lifeforms, tiny modular microrobots show great potential for creating artificial life based on microelectronic morphogenesis of non-biological material modules [1]. The talk will show how self-folded micro-origami robots make large leaps forward in self-assembling electronic nanomembrane materials into finely grained artificial units, that are solar powered, motile, and self-aware with on-board electronic control. They are made of soft material scaffolds with tiny Si CMOS chiplets sitting between the folds, for a massive increase in information processing capabilities. They can communicate, dock together and configure into larger entities like simple forms of artificial organisms [2]. This talk reports on our previous work on self-folding [3] and self-locomoting [4] thin film electronic modules and addresses key challenges in the field of microrobotics such as micromanipulation and force sensing well beyond state of the art [5] as well as energy storage with tiny on-board integrated batteries and biosupercapacitors [6-8]. The impact of these disruptive developments will be addressed for various application scenarios.
References
[1] J. S. McCaskill, D. Karnaushenko, M. Zhu, O. G. Schmidt, Adv. Mater. 35, 2306344 (2023)
[2] Y. Lee, V. K. Bandari, J. S. McCaskill, P. Adluri, D. Karnaushenko, D. D. Karnaushenko, O. G. Schmidt, unpublished
[3] C. Becker, B. Bao, D. D. Karnaushenko, V. K. Bandari, B. Rivkin, Z. Li, M. Faghih, D. Karnaushenko, O. G. Schmidt, Nature Comm. 13, 2121 (2022)
[4] V. K. Bandari, Y. Nan, D. Karnaushenko, Y. Hong, B. Sun, F. Striggow, D. D. Karnaushenko, C. Becker, M. Faghih, M. Medina-Sanchez, F. Zhu, O. G. Schmidt, Nature Electron. 3, 172 (2020)
[5] H. Xu, S. Wu, Y. Liu, X. Wang, A. K. Efremov, L. Wang, J. S. McCaskill, M. Medina-Sánchez, O. G. Schmidt, Nature Nanotechnol. 19, 494 (2024)
[6] M. Zhu, O. G. Schmidt, Nature 589, 195 (2021)
[7] Y. Li, M. Zhu, V. K. Bandari, D. D. Karnaushenko, D. Karnaushenko, F. Zhu, O. G. Schmidt, Adv. Energy Mater. 12, 2103641 (2022)
[8] Y. Lee, V. K. Bandari, Z. Li, M. Medina-Sanchez, M. F. Maitz, D. Karnaushenko, M. V. Tsurkan, D. D. Karnaushenko, O. G. Schmidt, Nature Comm. 12, 4967 (2021)