ROBUST ELECTROSTATIC INCHWORM MOTORS FOR MACROSCOPIC MANIPULATION AND MOVEMENT

We report robust microfabricated MEMS electrostatic inchworm motors moving macroscopic objects: a motor in a 14.5x9.5x1.2mm gripper with 3mm displacement and 15mN force lifting a 1 g weight, and an identical motor moving a 100mm long 230mg shuttle an 80mm distance horizontally at up to 5mm/s. This is an order of magnitude larger than previous electrostatic inchworm motors and demonstrates competitiveness with piezoelectric motors for millimeter-scale actuation for microrobotics.