Kristofer S.J. Pister (Advisor)

Swimming microrobots have significant potential for biomedical applications and distributed sensing. To date, most work has relied on external fields for control control. To achieve au- tonomy, locally controllable propulsion mechanisms must be developed. This thesis presents an rotary inchworm motor designed to drive an artificial flagellum, inspired by bacterial flagellar motors found in nature. The design adapts electrostatic gap closing actuators with angled arms for rotational motion. The devices are fabricated in an SOI process with a bonded lid featuring through-wafer vias as a...

Space exploration often costs multiple millions of dollars for each exploratory mission to get a single piece of equipment into orbit. These missions usually return information in the form of scans or images or samples in the form of extracted material. This work proposes the manufacture and deployment of thousands of imaging capable solar sails systems with 10 gram payloads. Power generation is enabled through solar panels and batteries. Navigation is enabled through one square meter solar sails maneuvered by inchworm motors. Communications are enabled by laser transmitters and SPAD...