Micro-scale Electrostatic Attach-detach Device for Self-reconfigurable Modular Robotic System

We propose a micro-scale electrostatic attach detach actuator device as an enabling component of micro self reconfigurable modular robotic system (SMR), or programmable matter. The system is composed of a number of identical tiny agents that can adhere each other to form arbitral shapes. The actuator is composed of Au electrodes sandwiched by Parylene-C flexible substrate films. The film is made planar, and the SMR agent is realized by wrapping the actuator film around a shell of a unit robot, made by precise 3-D printing. We have measured the adhesive strength to be $99.3\ \mu {\mathrm {N}}$ at 50 V, that is sufficient to perform attach demonstration.