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7110561 
Journal Article 
A 5 mg micro-bristle-bot fabricated by two-photon lithography 
Kim, D; Hao, Z; Ueda, Jun; Ansari, A; , 
2019 
Yes 
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
ISSN: 0960-1317 
IOP PUBLISHING LTD 
BRISTOL 
29 
10 
5006-5006 
A bristle-bot or vibrobot is a multi-legged robot made of bristles and an oscillating actuator that generates vibrations. This work presents the first demonstration of a micro- bristle-bot, with 3D-printed legs, fabricated by two-photon polymerization (TPP) lithography. The presented miniaturized bristle-bot has a weight of only 5 mg, in the size of 2mm x 1.87mm x 0.8 mm, and can achieve a speed up to 4 times the body length per second. A base structure with six legs is fabricated by TPP direct laser writing in a single fabrication step, allowing for rapid prototyping of various leg designs. The base is attached to a 0.3 mm thick lead zirconate titanite (PZT) actuator block. The vibrational energy is provided by an external piezoelectric shaker in this work, which mimics the ocillatory behavior of the on-board PZT block. This work demonstrates the locomotion of micro-bristle-bots with various leg designs that utilizes the resonant bending mode shape at small excitation voltages applied to the external piezoelectric shaker. The presented micro-bristle-bots show a resonant frequency around 6.3 kHz, which can be tailored based on their geometry. This feature allows for addressing individual micro-bristle-boss with various geometries based on their unique resonance frequency. 
microrobotics; two-photon lithography; vibration; bristle-bot; piezoelectric actuation