Antoine Barbot (FEMTO-ST)

Use of surface tension in microrobotic : actuation, sensing and computing

In this talk I will first present the study of liquid joints, which consist of a droplet of liquid connecting two solids in a gas (or vice versa) to form mechanic articulation at small scales within a very confined space. I will investigate how these liquid joints can be actuated to induce motion and also their use as sensors for retrieving the position of a microrobot. I will then present how surface tension can enable the development of hydraulic micro-actuators with multiple degrees of freedom. Ultimately, I present some reflection on how the non-linearity introduced by surface tension at small-scale fluid flow can enable amplification and logical operations to compactly integrate intelligence onto microrobots.