Powering 3 Dimensional Microrobots : Power Density Limitations ∗

Many types of electrostatic and electromagnetic microactuators have been developed. It is important to understand the fundamental performance limitations of these actuators for use in micro-robotic systems. The most important consideration for micro mobile robots is the effective power density of the actuator. As inertia and gravitional forces become less significant for small robots, typical metrics for macro-robots, such as torque-to-weight ratio, are not appropriate. A very significant problem with micro-actuators for robotics is the need for efficient transmissions to obtain large forces and torques at low speeds from inherently high speed low force actuators.