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Microrobotics Challenge
Motivation
Recent advances in the design and fabrication of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have enabled the development of mobile microrobots that can autonomously navigate and manipulate in controlled environments. It is expected that this technology will be critical in applications as varied as intelligent sensor networks, in vivo medical diagnosis and treatment, and adaptive microelectronics.
However, many challenges remain, particularly with respect to locomotion, power storage, embedded intelligence, and motion measurement. As a result, NIST has organized performance-based competitions for mobile microrobots that are designed to: 1) motivate researchers to accelerate microrobot development, 2) reveal the most pressing technical challenges, and 3) evaluate the most successful methods for locomotion and manipulation at the microscale (e.g., actuation techniques for crawling).
NIST Mobile Microrobotics Challenge 2012
Challenge Call for Participants (pdf)
Challenge Rules (pdf)
Previous Challenges
Results from 2011 Challenge
Mobility
| Trial 1 | Trial 2 | Trial 3 | Final Score | Place | ||
| France | 1.867 | 2.104 | 2.637 | 2.226 | 1 | |
| Univ. of Hawaii | 39.580 | 33.444 | 32.654 | 35.362 | 2 | |
| Univ. of Waterloo | 120.000 | 25.770 | 24.959 | 72.312 | 3 | |
| Stevens Inst. of Tech. | 120.000 | 62.018 | 120.000 | 104.317 | 4 | |
| Italian Inst. of Tech | 120.000 | 120.000 | 120.000 | 120.000 | 5 | |
| Univ. of Maryland | 120.000 | 120.000 | 120.000 | 120.000 | 5 | |
| Univ. of Texas at Arlington | 120.000 | 120.000 | 120.000 | 120.000 | 5 |
Microassembly
| Trial 1 | Trial 2 | Trial 3 | Final Score | Place | ||
| University of Waterloo | 0.000 | 78.000 | 0.000 | 45.033 | 1 | |
| Stevens Inst. of Tech. | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 2 | |
| France | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 2 | |
| Univ. of Hawaii | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 2 | |
| Italian Inst. of Tech. | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 2 | |
| Univ. of Texas at Arlington | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 2 | |
| Univ. of Maryland | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 2 |
Official Rules - NIST Mobile Microrobotics Challenge
Details about the 2010 competition are available here.