An Omni-directional Wall-climbing Microrobot with Magnetic Wheels Directly Integrated with Electromagnetic Micromotors

This paper presents an omni-directional wall-climbing microrobot with magnetic wheels. The integral design with an actuator and adhesive is realized by integrating stators and rotors of an MEMS-based electromagnetic micromotor with a magnetic wheel. The omni-directional wall-climbing mechanism is designed by a set of steering gears and three standard magnetic wheels. The required torque and magnetic force for microrobot movement are derived by its static analysis. The size of the magnetic wheel is optimized, with consideration of its own design constraints, by ANSOFT and Pro/Engineer simulation so as to reduce unnecessary torque consumption under the same designed load. Related experiments demonstrate that the microrobot (diameter: 26mm; height: 16.4; mass: 7.2g; load capacity: 3g) we have developed has a good wall-climbing ability and flexible mobility, and it can perform visual detection in a ferromagnetic environment.