Small-Scale Robotics : An Introduction

The term small-scale robotics describes a wide variety of miniature robotic systems, ranging from millimeter sized devices down to autonomous mobile systems with dimensions measured in nanometers. Unified by the common goal of enabling applications that require tiny mobile robots, research in small-scaled robotics has produced a variety of novel miniature robotic systems in the last decade. As the size of the robots scale down, the physics that governs the mode of operation, power delivery, and control change dramatically, restricting how these devices operate, and requiring novel engineering solutions to enable their functionality. This chapter provides an overview and introduction to small-scale robotics, drawing parallels to systems presented later in the book. Comparison to biological systems is also presented, using biology to speculate regarding future capabilities of robotic systems at the various size scales.

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