Infrastructure suited for supporting a fleet of wireless miniature robots designed for atomic-scale operations

Abstract

The coordination of a fleet of miniature instrumented wireless robots operating within a half-meter diameter surface area requires a special infrastructure. The infrastructure described in this paper allows an excess of 100 of these robots to operate simultaneously and continuously at the atomic scale. Among many tasks, the infrastructure provides 4 Mb/s half-duplex infrared communication with all robots. It also provides an infrared positioning system based on a position sensing detection technique capable of positioning each robot within the whole workspace to +/- 1.585 mm. The positioning and angular information is also used by the infrastructure to control the displacements of all robots by communicating proper information and instructions to ensure that each robot reaches its assigned destination with minimum delay and without problems. While tracking the position and the status of each robot, a graphical user interface is also provided and updated, allowing user interactions. The infrastructure also includes a special power supply distribution scheme, a high precision walking and working surface, and electronics and software for the real-time automatic management of the nano-robotic platform.