A Multi-Legged Piezoelectric Crawling Actuator with a High Thrust-Weight Ratio

To realize high-load operation activities in a narrow space, we design a miniatured multi-legged piezoelectric actuator with an overall size of 20 mm
$\times 20$
mm
$\times$
2.3 mm and a mass of 0.9 g. A total of 12 feet are symmetrically distributed on both sides for achieving a large thrust-weight ratio, which are driven by two piezoelectric ceramics. Moreover, we establish a finite element model using COMSOL software to analyze its motion mechanism. According to the simulated and experimental results, we obtain the variation law of movement speed and turning radius under different loads. When the load is 30 g and the driving voltage is 200 V, its straight speed can reach a maximum of 200 mm/s and achieve 61.1 times thrust-weight ratio, demonstrating its great potential in practical applications such as movement with high-load in a narrow space.