277 results about "Micro robotics" patented technology

The present invention provides a micro-robot for use inside the body during minimally-invasive surgery. The micro-robot includes an imaging devices, a manipulator, and in some embodiments a sensor.

A robotic vehicle capable of traveling over various terrain and traversing obstacles. In one embodiment, the vehicle includes a cylindrical body having two or more drive wheels coupled to the ends thereof. The wheels are selectively powered to propel the vehicle. The vehicle may further include a spring member which may be deflected to a first, stored position from a second, extended position. The spring member may be quickly released from the first, stored position such that it strikes the terrain with sufficient force to lift and propel the vehicle over or onto a proximate obstacle or object. Robotic vehicles of the present invention may also include one or more sensing devices operable to collect information. Electronics may further permit autonomous, semi-autonomous, and / or remote control of the vehicle. In still other embodiments, the robotic vehicle forms part of a multi-robot surveillance team. The robotic vehicles may be delivered to the desired location through the use of a deployment and communication apparatus which, in one embodiment, is a larger robotic vehicle. The deployment and communication apparatus may form part of the communication system between the robotic vehicles and a remote workstation.

A robotic vehicle having a body with two or more powered ground-engaging members, e.g., wheels, rotatably coupled thereto. The vehicle may further include a spring member which may be deflected to a first, stored position from a second, extended position. The robotic vehicle may form part of a distributed, multi-robot system. The robotic vehicles may communicate with each other and / or a remote workstation. In some embodiments, the robotic vehicles may mechanically couple to one another to perform certain tasks.

The present invention provides a micro-robot for use inside the body during minimally-invasive surgery. The micro-robot may include various sensors, imaging devices or manipulators.

The present invention provides a micro-robot for use inside the body during minimally-invasive surgery. The micro-robot includes an imaging devices, a manipulator, and in some embodiments a sensor.

A novel image-guided system for precise automatic targeting in minimally invasive keyhole neurosurgery. The system consists of a miniature robot fitted with a mechanical guide for needle, probe, or catheter insertion. Intraoperative, the robot is directly affixed to a head clamp or to the patient skull. It automatically positions itself with respect to predefined entry points and targets in a preoperative CT / MRI image following an anatomical registration with an intraoperative 3D surface scan of the patient facial features and a registration jig. The registration procedure is a novel three-way scheme, in which the intraoperative surface scan including the registration jig is matched to a model generated from the preoperative CT / MRI image, the robot position is known in relation to the registration jig, and the entry and target points are known from the preoperative CT / MRI image, such that the robot position can be related to the entry and target points.

The invention discloses an air flight and omnibearing adsorption micro-robot which comprises an adsorption device, an adsorption joint arm, a joint arm driving steering gear, four rotor wings, four rotor wing motors, four drivers, a robot body and a remote controller, wherein the adsorption device is arranged at one end of the adsorption joint arm, the other end of the adsorption joint arm is connected with an output shaft of the joint arm driving steering gear, the joint arm driving steering gear is arranged on a steering gear support, the steering gear support is fixedly mounted on the robot body, the four rotor wings are fixedly mounted on the respective rotor wing motors, the four drivers are respectively connected with the respective rotor wing motors, and the remote controller is used for sending a control command to the robot body for realizing air flight and omnibearing adsorption. The air flight and omnibearing adsorption micro-robot can realize air flight based on the four rotor wings and has the characteristic of stable low altitude flight, the robot can own the capability of being inhabited and adsorbed on the surface of an object in the air through the adsorption device, and the mechanism of imitating the flight and the inhabitation of a flying organism can be realized.

The invention discloses a high-conductivity polymer carbon nanotube composite material and a micro-processing method thereof. The invention is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps: adding 50-99.95 parts of polymer grain or powder, 0.05-20 parts of carbon nanotube, 0-15 parts of antioxidant and 0-15 parts of dispersant into a micro-extruder, a double-screw extruder or a double-screw extruder / micro-extruder combined facility, extruding at a screw rotation speed of 20-500rpm at a polymer melting or softening temperature of Tm+10 DEG C-Tm+80 DEG C for 1-3 times to obtainuniformly dispersed composite material grains, and carrying out micro extrusion, micro injection or micro compaction on the grains to prepare a high-conductivity micro product; or carrying out isothermal or non-isothermal heat treatment on the product in a baking oven with a temperature of Tm-80 DEG C-Tm+20 DEG C for 5 seconds to 1.5 hours; or carrying out after-treatment on the sample in microwaves, infrared rays or plasma. The high-conductivity polymer carbon nanotube composite material disclosed by the invention is used for preparing micro biomedical devices in minimally invasive operations, and used in the field of micro biomedical sensors, micro electronics, micro electro-mechanics or micro-robots.

The invention belongs to the technical field of endoscopes, and provides a microrobot for a gastrointestinal track. The microrobot for the gastrointestinal tract comprises an axial telescoping mechanism, a head radial clamping mechanism and a tail radial clamping mechanism. The head radial clamping mechanism is connected with the axial telescoping mechanism through a radial power mechanism. A radial clamping mechanism comprises a mechanism output gear, a speed regulating output gear, at least three helix line legs and a clamping speed regulating device, wherein the mechanism output gear and the speed regulating output gear are meshed with each other, and the at least three helix line legs are evenly distributed on the outer periphery of the mechanism output gear. The microrobot for the gastrointestinal tract is small in size, simple in structure, simple in controlling, low in cost and reliable in performance, has a larger movement stroke compared with an existing mechanism, can be adapted to a human gastrointestinal tract environment, can move effectively, and avoids the defects of a traditional endoscope and a capsule endoscope.

The present invention provides a multi-camera-based collaborative visual SLAM method, in particular to a collaborative visual SLAM method using multiple cameras in a dynamic environment. The method of the invention allows the relative position and direction of the cameras to change with time, so that multiple cameras can move independently and be installed on different platforms, and solve problems related to camera pose estimation, map point classification and camera group management, etc. problem, so that the method works robustly in dynamic scenes and can reconstruct the 3D trajectories of moving objects. Compared with the existing SLAM method based on single camera, the method of the present invention is more accurate and robust, and can be applied to micro-robots and wearable augmented reality.

The present invention is one kind of micro robot and its in vitro guiding system. Inside the robot, there are permanent magnet, micromotor, RF receiver, miniature battery, tail rotating mechanism, tail rotating rod and high elasticity sealing membrane between the rotating rod and the robot body. The in vitro guiding and controlling system includes an imaging subsystem for scanning the detected area, a computerized control subsystem for receiving the original image data and performing image reconstitution, a magnetically locating subsystem for locating the permanent magnet inside the robot and feeding the original location data to the computerized control subsystem, and a magnetically guiding subsystem for receiving the guide controlling information from the computerized control subsystem and performing the guide control on the micro robot.

Compound eyes of insects are great optical system for imaging and sensing by the nature creator, which is an unsurpassed challenge due to its precision and small size. Here, we use meta-lens consisting of GaN nano-antenna to open the fascinating doorway to full-color achromatic light field imaging and sensing. A 60×60 multi-channels meta-lens array is used for effectively capturing multi-dimensional optical information including image and depth. Based on this, the multi-dimensional light field imaging and sensing of a moving object is capable to be experimentally implemented. Our system presents a diffraction-limit resolution of 1.95 micrometer via observing the standard resolution test chart under white light illumination. This is the first mimic optical light field imaging and sensing system of insect compound eye, which has potential applications in micro robotic vision, non-men vehicle sensing, virtual and augmented reality, etc.

A piezoelectric clamping micromanipulator with flexible drive and amplification and adjustable range is composed of microactuator, flexible multiplying mechanism, size pre-regulator, and clamping micromanipulator. Its advantages are compact structure, high reliability, and low non-linear error.

A permanent magnetic adsorption wheel-type wall-climbing robot belongs to the field of minitype robot technology and comprises three groups of permanent magnetic adsorption wall-climbing units with the same structures and a steering unit, wherein the permanent magnetic adsorption wall-climbing units are vertically arranged on the steering unit respectively; and the three groups of the permanent magnetic adsorption wall-climbing units are in parallel. The robot has extremely great advantages when moving in narrow pipelines, can rotate horizontally, vertically or around the pipeline, and can carry out shifting operation between pipelines of different structures. In the steering unit of the robot, a set of reducing gears is designed to realize the omnidirectional movement (without radius of gyration) of the minitype wall-climb robot, thus leading the robot to have extremely high flexibility.

The invention discloses a vascular robot for cleaning thrombus. The robot consists of a micro-robot and an external driver and is characterized in that: the micro-robot is provided with a bullet-shaped shell; a clapboard (3) is arranged in the shell and divides the inner cavity of the shell into a dredging chamber (4) and a pump chamber (5); the shell on one side of the pump chamber (5) is a section of elastic corrugated tube; a super-magnetostrictive material rob (6) is arranged in the pump chamber (5); one end of the super-magnetostrictive material rob (6) is fixed on the clapboard (3); the other end of the super-magnetostrictive material rob (6) is fixed on a supporting frame (7); a thrombus collector (9) is arranged in the dredging chamber (4); one end of the thrombus collector (9) is communicated with the pump chamber (5) through a suction inlet of the pump chamber (5); the other end of the thrombus collector (9) is communicated with the exterior of the micro-robot; the external driver is provided with an annular electromagnetic coil (11) sleeved outside the micro-robot; and the annular electromagnetic coil (11) is fixed on a mobile part.

This invention belongs to the technical field of the medical engineering, disclosing a basic method for applying a direct current superposed magnetic field, an azimuth of which can be adjusted, to an Helmholtz coil device of triaxial orthogonal nesting and achieves an attitude orientation in the body by combination of embedding the medical micro-robot in which embedded radial magnetized NdFeB magnet is screwed-in in a screwing mode into a wireless visual transmission system in the body and a magnetic testing. The invention is characterized in that a small magnetic needle is observed to turn superposition with the axis of the medical micro-robot in the external field by embedding the medical micro-robot into a wireless visual system, transfers the detection problem of a complex attitude azimuth into a known variable in which the azimuth of external direct current magnetic field can be readout directly. The invention has the beneficial effects of avoiding that a plurality of sensors are needed in detection and a complex computational process in the traditional method, detecting the attitude azimuth of the medical micro-robot in the body quickly by a non-contact mode, providing a position parameter for the revolving magnetic field which produces the corresponding azimuth, and improving the operability of the medical micro-robot in the bend environment.

The invention discloses a magnetic control blood vessel robot for cleaning thrombus. The robot consists of a miniature robot and an external driver and is characterized in that a liquid pump (5) and a thrombus collector (8) connected with an inlet of the liquid pump (5) in series are arranged in a miniature robot body; the liquid pump (5) is provided with a cylindrical pump body made by an elastic film; a plurality of permanent magnets (9) provided with central holes (9-1) are circumferentially and uniformly distributed on the outer wall of the pump body; guide rods (10) are respectively arranged at the positions of the inner wall of a cavity of the miniature robot body corresponding to the permanent magnets (9); each guide rod (10) respectively extends into the central hole (9-1) of the corresponding permanent magnet (9); a spiral spring (11) is sleeved on each guide rod (10); the external driver is provided with an annular supporting frame (13); and direct current electromagnets (14) with the same quantity as the permanent magnets (9) are uniformly distributed on the annular supporting frame (13).

Disclosed herein is a bidirectional moving micro-robot system. The bidirectional moving micro-robot system has a first body having a plurality of legs foldably / unfoldably connected thereto, a second body having a plurality of legs foldably / unfoldably connected thereto and a connection member having both end portions respectively connected to the first and second bodies. In the bidirectional moving micro-robot system, the length of the connection member exposed between the first and second bodies is extended or contracted.

The invention discloses a polypyrrole microelectrode with three-dimensional structure which belongs to the technical field of the micro-electro-mechanical preparation and is used in the miniature supercapacitor, and a preparation method thereof. The preparation method of the microelectrode comprises the following steps: adopting the MEMS technology to coat a SU-8 epoxy group negative chemically amplified resist on the surface of a copper substrate, performing spin-coating, pre-baking, lithographic process treatment, exposure, post-baking, development, rinsing and heat setting to form a columnar structure which is prepared from SU-8 photoresist and is in an array arrangement, on the surface of the copper substrate, and covering a functional film composed of polypyrrole and conductive material on the surfaces of the copper substrate and the microcolumn array microelectrode. The invention solves the problems that the common polypyrrole electrode with a two-dimensional structure can not store a large quantity of charges, have high internal resistance and the like, thus improving the energy storage characteristic and large current discharge performance of the miniature supercapacitor. The miniature supercapacitor of the invention has wide application prospect in the fields of sensor network node power supply, micro-robot driving power and fuze power.

A capsule type micro-robot moving system moves on an organ's wall covered with mucilage at a high speed. The present invention provides a capsule type micro-robot moving system, which is structured such that a head is formed in a semi-spherical shape and the outer surface of the capsule is coated with an anti-adhesion coating agent for reducing friction against organs during the movement, particularly, is structured to move as long as a linear stroke corresponding to the distance between the driving part and the inner cylinder in the state that the limbs folded in and unfolded out of the capsule completely contact and stick to the walls of the organs, resulting in providing the reliability and moving more rapidly.

The invention describes apparatuses for nano-scale integrated circuits applied to nanorobotics. Using EDA techniques, the system develops fully functional nano ICs, including ASICs and microprocessors. Three dimensional nano ICs are disclosed for increased efficiency in nanorobotic apparatuses. Nano-scale FPGAs are disclosed. The nano-scale semiconductors have applications to nano-scale and micro-scale robots.

A micro-robotic platform and a method for deploying the platform in a body cavity for performing endoluminal surgical interventions in a fully bimanual fashion. The platform comprises a first (1) and a second (2) surgical robot each provided with a surgical tool (5, 6) and being configured to be attached to the body cavity wall. The first and the second surgical robot each comprises a first (11) and a second (12) snake-like robotic unit, the first snake-like robotic unit (11) comprising a first central unit (13) and first articulated attachment means (7a, b; 8a, b; 9) extending from said first central unit (13) for attaching the first central unit to the body cavity wall. The second snake-like robotic unit (12) comprises a second central unit (14), second articulated attachment means (7c; 8c; 9) for attaching the second central unit to the body cavity wall and an articulated arm (3, 4) bearing the surgical tool (5, 6), the second articulated attachment means and the articulated arm extending from the second central unit. Releasable connection means (15) are provided on the first and second central units (13, 14) to connect the first central unit to the second central unit releasably to form each of the first and second surgical robot within the body cavity deployed in such a way to allow a surgical procedure to be performed in a true bimanual way.

The invention discloses a micro-robot driven by ciliary vibration. The micro-robot consists of a three-layer structure, wherein an upper layer comprises a power module, a vibrating motor module, a control circuit module and an operation module; an intermediate layer is a base plate which has supporting and connecting effects; and a lower layer at least comprises two groups of cilia driving legs with different quantities, different diameters, symmetrical inclination angles, equal total horizontal sectional areas and equal vertical heights. The cilia driving legs vibrate and swing under the vibration action of different rotating speed of a vibrating motor; and the diameters of the cilia driving legs are different, so the natural vibration frequencies of the cilia driving legs are different, and the vibration amplitudes are also different. When the vibration frequency of the vibrating motor is close to the natural vibration frequencies of the cilia driving legs, the vibration amplitudes of the cilia driving legs are increased; and when the vibration frequency of the vibrating motor is far away from the natural vibration frequencies of the cilia driving legs, the vibration amplitudes of the cilia driving legs are decreased. The rotating speed of the vibrating motor can be controlled by using the control circuit module further to fulfill the aims of controlling the forwardness, backwardness, steering and adjustment of travel speed of the micro-robot.

The invention discloses a graphene double-layer electroactive membrane and a preparation method thereof. The graphene double-layer electroactive membrane is composed of a flexible conducting layer anda flexible polymer layer. The preparation method comprises mixing and reacting flake graphite powder, NaNO3, sulfuric acid, KMnO4 and deionized water, and performing washing and drying processes to obtain graphene oxide; mixing and ultrasonic-dispersing the graphene oxide, hydrazine hydrate, ammonium hydroxide and deionized water for reaction to obtain reduced graphene oxide dispersion liquid; dropwise or rotatingly applying the reduced graphene oxide dispersion liquid onto a flexible polymer layer-polymer membrane and performing a drying process to form the flexible conducting layer onto thepolymer membrane to obtain the graphene double-layer electroactive membrane. The graphene double-layer electroactive membrane has the advantages of high responsiveness, low power, broad pressure range and the like when being electrically driven, and can be applied to the fields of flexible wearable equipment, micro motor actuators and micro-robots.

An electromagnetic coil system for driving control of a micro-robot includes pairs of X-axis and Y-axis Helmholtz coils whose winding central axes are placed on an X axis and Y axis respectively, a position recognition system that detects a position and direction of the micro-robot in a workspace, a controller that controls an amount of supply of electric currents flowing to the X-axis or Y-axis Helmholtz coils in order to control movement of the micro-robot based on information about the movement of the micro-robot and previously input information about a path of the micro-robot, and a current amplifier that supplies the electric currents to the respective Helmholtz coils. The pairs of X-axis and Y-axis Helmholtz coils are disposed so as to face each other, and the X-axis Helmholtz coils and the Y-axis Helmholtz coils are vertically crossed and installed so as to form the workspace of the micro-robot.

A miniature carrying device driven by liquid metal comprises a carrying structure connected with an adhesion structure. Liquid metal wheels are connected to the adhesion structure through immersion. The liquid metal wheels are immersed in an electrolyte, when a power source acts on the electrolyte, an electric field is formed in the electrolyte, the liquid metal wheels can be driven to move, the carrying structure is then pulled, a control circuit can be used for generating different magnitudes of force on the different liquid metal wheels, and thus the miniature carrying device moves forwards and backwards or turns. The miniature carrying device has the characteristics of simple structure and low cost. By means of the design of different carrying structures and regulation of the injection amount of the liquid metal wheels, miniature carrying devices in different sizes can be obtained. Meanwhile, the liquid metal wheels have the characteristic of flexibility and can deform and restore into the original shapes when bearing external force, and thus the liquid metal wheels cannot get stuck or suffer from structural damage due to collision when operating in tracks. The miniature carrying device can be applied to the fields of microfluid, biological chips, micro-robots and the like.

Methods and systems for inspecting a component within an assembled turbomachine are disclosed. At least one miniature robotic device having a non-destructive testing structure attached thereto is configured to travel around a surface of the component. The non-destructive testing structure gathers data related to the surface, and sends the data to a computing device connected to the at least one miniature robotic device. In one embodiment, the non-destructive testing structure comprises an image capture device and an infrared (IR) heat source.

The present invention relates to a micro-robot control apparatus. An electromagnetic module for focusing magnetic field and a micro-robot control apparatus comprising the electromagnetic module, according to the present invention, focus the magnetic field in an area of interest where focusing of same is desired to allow a micro-robot to be controlled, and, the apparatus having been simplified, allow efficient setup and operation in the surgery area. Moreover, the number of electromagnets is reduced to thus reduce the number of sources of power, thereby resulting in efficient operation of the apparatus with lowered power consumption. Additionally, by means of a magnetic induction frequency signal reception coil of the micro-robot and the external micro-robot control apparatus equipped with a magnetic induction transmission coil, the micro-robot control apparatus can both generate power wirelessly for the micro-robot, and implementation location recognition of same due to the efficiency of the generated power.