Multichannel Wireless Driving of an Untethered Film Robot Based on Kinetic Electronics for Sensor–Actuator Platforms

Yuta Fukuda, Yuzan Ninomiya, Kenshi Hayashi, F. Sassa

Small robots capable of operating in confined or difficult-to-access environments are attracting interest for inspection, environmental monitoring, and biomedical applications. In such applications, mobile sensor–actuator platforms are expected to place sensing elements and functional interfaces near target sites. Kinetic electronics provides a monolithic film-robot platform for integrating actuators, electrical circuits, and extra functional components, including sensing elements. However, previously reported kinetic-electronics film robots have relied mainly on external electrical connections for actuation and control. In this study, we report frequency-selective wireless driving of an untethered film robot based on kinetic electronics using magnetic resonance coupling. The robot includes two thermal bimorph actuators, each connected to a receiver coil and a surface-mounted capacitor with different capacitance values. By switching the driving frequency, actuators A and B were selectively driven at 2.05 and 1.15 MHz, respectively. The actuator curvature decreased with increasing vertical distance between the transmitter and receiver coils, showing the distance-dependent wireless driving characteristics. Alternating the two driving frequencies produced planar locomotion of the robot. These results demonstrate an Untethered Film Robot with frequency-selective multiactuator operation and locomotion, providing a basis for mobile kinetic-electronics sensor–actuator platforms.