Performance of a 7-mm microfabricated car

A 7-mm-scale miniature car was manufactured as a conceptional model of a micromachine. The car consists of a chassis, a shell body, and an electromagnetic motor whose diameter is 1.0 mm. The motor consists of a core shaft, a coil, and a cylindrical permanent magnet magnetized by a special tool. The car runs at the maximum speed of 100 mm/sec by electric power. This is the smallest wheel driven mechanism in the world. The moving characteristics are investigated in detail by a high-speed video camera. Through the experiments, problems of the moving mechanism for micromachines are studied. >

[1]  J. E. Wood,et al.  The wobble motor: an electrostatic, planetary-armature, microactuator , 1989, IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, , Proceedings, 'An Investigation of Micro Structures, Sensors, Actuators, Machines and Robots'.

[2]  Toshio Fukuda,et al.  A study on rubber gas actuators driven by the hydrogen storage alloy for in-pipe inspection mobile robots with flexible structure and on an application. , 1989 .

[3]  T. Fukuda,et al.  Giant magnetostrictive alloy (GMA) applications to micro mobile robot as a micro actuator without power supply cables , 1991, [1991] Proceedings. IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems.

[4]  T. Hattori,et al.  Shell-body fabrication for micromachines , 1995 .