Mechanisms for jumping microrobots

This paper presents two mechanisms to enable jumping microrobots. These small jumpers must store considerable mechanical energy and quickly release it. The first mechanism presented is a mechanical gain stage capable of amplifying the force generated by a standard inchworm motor by at least 10 times. This mechanism could be used with any style of inchworm motor. Secondly, a latching mechanism was designed and fabricated so that the microrobot could store its energy and remain in a high energy state for an arbitrarily long period of time. Finally, a prototype jumping microrobot was fabricated that includes this latching mechanism.