Robotics Seminar: Sarah Bergbreiter
Sarah Bergbreiter, a robotics researcher, discusses microsystems inspired robots, distributed sensing, and small scale locomotion, drawing on collaborations with researchers at the University of Washington, MIT, and Florida State.
In this talk
- 0:00
Microsystems ideas for robotics
Bergbreiter describes work that combines microsystems design and fabrication with robotics, from sensors on larger robots to fully integrated small machines. She points to MEMS inertial sensors as an example of microsystems already supporting small drones, and argues that robots still lack some of the distributed sensing seen in animals.
- 5:20
Distributed sensing for flight
Inspired by hawk moth wing sensors, Bergbreiter’s team built flexible capacitive strain sensing skins that can detect wing deformation and withstand large strains. Arrays of sensors can capture wing motion and may reveal acceleration changes before the robot’s body responds. The team also developed magnetic flow sensors, tested them on a hexarotor with John How’s group at MIT, and used one on a Crazyflie to guide it toward a fan and an ethylene source.
- 19:27
Event based sensing reduces data
To avoid continuously processing sensor readings, Bergbreiter describes strain sensors that signal when a threshold is crossed. Printed and metal coated structures act like switches, with signal timing and pulse duration carrying information about wing strain. She notes that physical sensor design can simplify decisions, while software processing is easier to adapt as goals change.
- 32:15
Materials and geometry shape locomotion
Bergbreiter explains how leg materials affect the speed and stability of small robots. A magnetically actuated robot with viscoelastic legs reached about 12 body lengths per second at larger scale, while a 2.5 millimeter robot reached about 50 body lengths per second. In the Zippy project with Aaron Johnson, curved feet and adjusted geometry helped a single motor biped walk over small obstacles and reach about 25 centimeters per second.
- 46:14
Adding control degrees of freedom
The team used microscale 3D printing and sputtered metal to make electrostatic actuators on flexible circuit boards. On a small hexapod, the actuators support tripod and hopping gaits, and switching gait helped it climb a slope. Bergbreiter says adding one degree of freedom per leg enabled different locomotion strategies; the actuators also powered a micro delta robot operating above one kilohertz.
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