Modeling and control of a self-assembled robotic swimmer

This thesis presents a control strategy based on model learning for a self-assembled robotic “swimmer”. The swimmer forms when a liquid suspension of ferro-magnetic micro-particles and a non-magnetic bead are exposed to an alternating magnetic field that is oriented per- pendicular to the liquid surface [1]. It can be steered by modulating the frequency of the alternating field. We model the swimmer as a unicycle and learn a mapping from frequency to forward speed and turning rate using locally-weighted projection regression. We apply iterative linear quadratic regulation with a receding horizon to track motion primitives that could be used for path following. Hardware experiments validate our approach.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2012

Author dc:creator

• Orduno, Carlos

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bretl, Timothy W.

• Self-Organised Robot Systems

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2012 Carlos Orduno

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/31200

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/31200