Bi-Directional Vibration-Driven Mobile Robots Based on Multipole Magnetoactive Elastomers

Magnetoactive elastomers are able to significantly change their material properties in a controlled manner under magnetic field stimulation. These smart materials provide solutions for many application systems, including magnetic-field-actuated mobile robots and sensors with an adjustable operation range. The work presented here studies multipole magnetized magnetoactive elastomers with the aim of utilizing them as functional elements of vibration-driven locomotion robots. The bi-directional locomotion of the elastomeric bristle-bot is achieved in two prototype designs with a single magnetic actuation. The motion principle is based on cyclic interplay of asymmetric friction and inertia forces caused by magnetic-field-induced bending vibrations of the magnetized elastomer. The locomotion behavior of both prototypes shows a strong non-monotonic dependency of the advancing speed on the magnetic actuation frequency.