MSU - DARPA Microrobot Home Page

Reconfigurable Adaptable MicroRobots

Principal Investigator Prof. R. Lal Tummala

Co-Investigators
Dean Aslam · Sridhar Mahadevan · Ranjan Mukherjee
John Weng · Ning Xi

The goal of this project is to design, build, and test a prototype of micro-robot that will exhibit multiple forms of locomotion. This will be achieved through suction cups located at the robot extremities. The suction cups also provide the ability to climb walls and flip over obstacles. The robot will be able to work individually or team up with other robots to perform a given mission.

This research and development effort are being conducted by an interdisciplinary group of faculty from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science.

Accomplished Milestones

Design and test robot locomotion mechanism
Fabricate mechanical structure, sensors, and suction cups
Demonstrated wall climbing behavior
Demonstrated its usefullness as as remote sensor (camera) for reconnaissance applications
Demonstrated cooperative behavior on Khepera robots

Short-Term Milestones

Demonstrate sliding and flipping modes of locomotion
Demonstrate wireless operation
Validate sensor-based learning of individual behaviors
Fabricate robot prototypes
Demonstrate cooperative behavior using several robots

Contact Information

Other Links

Prof. Lal Tummala
Department of Electrical Engineering
2120 Engineering Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824

Voice:	(517) 355-7453
Fax:	(517) 353-1980