mROBerTO 2.0 – An Autonomous Millirobot With Enhanced Locomotion for Swarm Robotics. Eshaghi, K., Li, Y., Kashino, Z., Nejat, G., & Benhabib, B. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 5(2):962–969, April, 2020.
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Numerous millirobots were developed in the past decade for autonomous swarm systems that aim to utilize large numbers of these units in space-constrained environments. However, the size limitation of these robots has often resulted in their reduced computational, sensing, and locomotion capabilities. mROBerTO (milli-ROBot-TOronto) was developed in response to such limitations. Despite its enhanced features, the reliable and repeatable locomotion of mROBerTO has still been of some concern due to lack of effective closed-loop motion control – as is the case with all other similar millirobots. In this letter, we present the next version of mROBerTO with a new locomotion mechanism that utilizes stepper motors, capable of micro-stepping down to 1/32 of a full step, to yield a millirobot with maneuvering capabilities superior to current similar-sized robots. mROBerTO 2.0 is novel in that it utilizes these stepper motors without relying on a separate processor for controlling them. This letter also presents a complementary new algorithm for efficiently converting desired trajectories into robot-motion commands. The proposed algorithm was developed to allow millirobots to execute complex trajectories reliably in an open-loop manner.
@article{eshaghi_mroberto_2020,
	title = {{mROBerTO} 2.0 – {An} {Autonomous} {Millirobot} {With} {Enhanced} {Locomotion} for {Swarm} {Robotics}},
	volume = {5},
	copyright = {All rights reserved},
	issn = {2377-3774},
	doi = {10.1109/LRA.2020.2966411},
	abstract = {Numerous millirobots were developed in the past decade for autonomous swarm systems that aim to utilize large numbers of these units in space-constrained environments. However, the size limitation of these robots has often resulted in their reduced computational, sensing, and locomotion capabilities. mROBerTO (milli-ROBot-TOronto) was developed in response to such limitations. Despite its enhanced features, the reliable and repeatable locomotion of mROBerTO has still been of some concern due to lack of effective closed-loop motion control – as is the case with all other similar millirobots. In this letter, we present the next version of mROBerTO with a new locomotion mechanism that utilizes stepper motors, capable of micro-stepping down to 1/32 of a full step, to yield a millirobot with maneuvering capabilities superior to current similar-sized robots. mROBerTO 2.0 is novel in that it utilizes these stepper motors without relying on a separate processor for controlling them. This letter also presents a complementary new algorithm for efficiently converting desired trajectories into robot-motion commands. The proposed algorithm was developed to allow millirobots to execute complex trajectories reliably in an open-loop manner.},
	number = {2},
	journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
	author = {Eshaghi, Kasra and Li, Yuchen and Kashino, Zendai and Nejat, Goldie and Benhabib, Beno},
	month = apr,
	year = {2020},
	keywords = {Swarms, millirobots, motion control},
	pages = {962--969},
}

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