Echolocating bats rely on active sound emission (echolocation) for mapping novel environments and navigating through them. Many theoretical frameworks have been suggested to explain how they do so, but few attempts have been made to build an actual robot that mimics their abilities. Here, we present the 'Robat'-a fully autonomous bat-like terrestrial robot that relies on echolocation to move through a novel environment while mapping it solely based on sound. Using the echoes reflected from the environment, the Robat delineates the borders of objects it encounters, and classifies them using an artificial neural-network, thus creating a rich map of its environment. Unlike most previous attempts to apply sonar in robotics, we focus on a biological bat-like approach, which relies on a single emitter and two ears, and we apply a biological plausible signal processing approach to extract information about objects' position and identity.

Capsule endoscopy is becoming an important tool for diagnosis in the digestive system. In certain parts of the gastrointestinal tract, such as the stomach, the capsule should be self-propelled. This study examines the swimming mechanism for a miniature gastric pill endoscope. Our method is based on a constant external magnetic field, such as the B0field of an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), that drives a pair of coils in order to create an undulating swimming motion. We present a dynamic model of the two coil swimmer and compare it to the results obtained using PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry). We demonstrate that our swimmer is able to create an average propulsive force of 0.03 mN and 0.07 mN for the flow regimes tested, which is in a reasonable agreement with the results of the proposed dynamic model.

Jumping is one among successful locomotion gaits for small scale robots to overcome obstacles and traverse rough terrains. Design of a jumping robot features many engineering challenges; some of them may be solved by seeking inspiration and solutions in nature. This paper entails the conceptual and detailed design of TAUB, a miniature jumping robot whose design was inspired by the Desert Locust's legs. The jumping mechanism consist a pair of legs each with two equal segments, mimicking the femur and tibia, joined by torsion springs, mimicking the Semi-Lunar Process (SLP) of the Locust's legs. The jumping legs enable relatively large opening angle of 150 degrees, similar to the locust, allowing using softer springs and increase the energy storing and jumping performance. The 22. 6 gr autonomous robot prototype constructed outperforms other existing robots, by jumping to a height of 3. 1 m covering a distance of 3 m.

We present a setup for simple and fast experimental estimation of drag coefficients. Our system can accurately determine the parameters of fluid-object interaction for complicated geometry and boundary conditions in the realm of classical Stokes equations. Obtained results are compared with theoretical and numerical solutions. Good agreement with those references is achieved in both cases. An advantage of our method is the prompt and easy parameter retrieval that still maintains appropriate accuracy. Comparable detailed numerical estimations run on the order of hours or days.

Capsule endoscopy is a promising technique for diagnosing diseases in the small intestines. Here we propose a miniature swimming mechanism that uses MRI’s magnetic fields for both propulsion and wireless energy delivery. Our method uses both the static and radio frequency (RF) magnetic field inherently available in MRI to generate propulsion force. The propulsion force is produced by a swimming tail containing waving beam consisting of three coils in a row. Alternating current in the coils acting on the static magnetic field of the MRI will generate waving movement to produce a propulsion force. RF magnetic field will provide power to generate the alternating currents in the coils. We developed a theoretical model to predict sinusoidal waves produced by the waving beam using the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation and multiple-input multiple-output system were solved using antenna design theory. This numerical model predicted that the maximal propulsion from a 10 mm long tail can produce a velocity of 7.9 mm/s force of 5.5 mN when placed in a 3T static magnetic field. A validation study with a single coil demonstrated that the theoretical and numerical model predicts well the proposed swimming mechanism and it is useful for the fabrication of swimming tails.

This paper presents a novel swimming method mediated by traveling waves in elastic tails. The propulsion method is potentially appropriate for maneuvering microrobots inside the human body. The swimming action relies on the creation of a traveling wave along a piezoelectric layered beam divided into several segments. This requires that a voltage with the same frequency, but different phases and amplitudes, be applied to each segment. The swimming pattern was analyzed theoretically by solving the coupled electric-elastic-fluidic problem, and was optimized to attain reasonable thrust. It was found that despite extreme size limitations, a tail manufactured by current microelectromechanical-devices technology, using piezoelectric material, is able to swim in water at a speed of several centimeters per second. The swimming theory was verified experimentally using an upscaled model that produced propulsion of 0.04 mN, which matches closely the theoretically predicted propulsion.

Medical doctors use radiology, endoscopy and smart pills to inspect the human body's inner content. Nowadays, self-propelled micro robots are developed to fulfill these tasks which use types of crawling techniques to advance. This paper suggests a novel swimming method, which creates a traveling wave in an elastic tail made of piezo-electric actuators, for propulsion of a micro-robot in the body. The novel swimming method was analyzed and optimized analytically by solving the coupled elastic/fluidic problem. It was found that under the extreme size limitations a tail manufactured by current MEMS technology is able to swim at the order of several mm/sec in water.