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IC design of driving circuit of MEMS microrobot using pulse-type hardware neuron model

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Abstract

This paper presented a driving circuit which can output a driving waveform of the piezoelectric element impact-type actuator. The piezoelectric element impact-type actuator generates the rotational movement which is necessary to move the legs of the micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) microrobot. The MEMS microrobot is made from silicon wafers fabricated by micro fabrication technology. The size of the fabricated MEMS microrobot is 4.0 mm × 4.6 mm × 3.6 mm. The driving circuit consists of a bare chip IC of the pulse-type hardware neuron model (P-HNM) and a peripheral circuit. P-HNM is an electrical oscillating model which has the same basic features of biological neurons. Therefore, P-HNM can output the driving waveform of the piezoelectric element impact-type actuator using electrical oscillation as biological neuron. As a result, we showed that the driving circuit can output the driving waveform of the piezoelectric element impact-type actuator without using any software programs or analog digital converters.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Nihon University College of Science and Technology Project Research, JSPS KAKENHI Grants (25420226), Nihon University Academic Research Grant (Total research, “14-002”). Specimen fabrication was supported by the Research Center for Micro Functional Devices of Nihon University. The VLSI chip in this study has been fabricated by Digian Technology, Inc. This work is supported by VLSI Design and Education Center (VDEC), the University of Tokyo in collaboration with Synopsys, Inc., Cadence Design Systems, Inc. and Mentor Graphics, Inc.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nihon University, 7-24-1 Narashinodai, Funabashi-shi, Chiba, 274-8501, Japan

    Yuki Ishihara, Yuka Naito, Kazuaki Maezumi, Yuki Okane, Hirozumi Oku, Masaki Tatani, Minami Takato, Ken Saito & Fumio Uchikoba

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  1. Yuki Ishihara
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  2. Yuka Naito
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  3. Kazuaki Maezumi
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  4. Yuki Okane
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  5. Hirozumi Oku
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  6. Masaki Tatani
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  7. Minami Takato
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  8. Ken Saito
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  9. Fumio Uchikoba
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ken Saito.

Additional information

http://www.eme.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/~uchikoba/.

This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants 25420226. Nihon University Academic Research Grant (Total research “14-002”) and CST research project of Nihon University. Specimen fabrication was supported by the Research Center for Micro Functional Devices of Nihon University. The VLSI chip in this study has been fabricated by Digian Technology. Inc. This work is supported by VLSI Design and Education Center (VDEC). The University of Tokyo in collaboration with Synopsys. Inc. Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Mentor Graphics Inc.

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Ishihara, Y., Naito, Y., Maezumi, K. et al. IC design of driving circuit of MEMS microrobot using pulse-type hardware neuron model. Artif Life Robotics 21, 201–206 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-016-0273-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-016-0273-x

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