Marc Miskin, assistant professor in Penn Engineering’s department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, has been awarded two young investigator projects in support of his research on microscopic robots.

This includes a three-year, $360,000 award from the Army Research Office Young Investigator Program (ARO YIP) and a three-year, $450,000 award from the Air Force’s Young Investigator Research Program (AFOSR YIP).

Dr. Miskin’s research involves the design of microscopic robots that can be mass produced using the technology involved in the manufacture of computer chips. Each robot is ten times smaller than a period at the end of a sentence and equipped with a power supply, silicon microelectronics for sensing and computation, and nanoscale strips of platinum metal that serve as legs. These strips curl up when a voltage is applied, so by strategically placing rigid plates on top of them, Dr. Miskin and his colleagues can make them flex like the articulated legs of an insect.

Dr. Miskin’s research will be further explored in a project funded by the ARO YIP, which will investigate what is possible with swarms containing tens of thousands of tiny machines. Each robot will be able to move, sense a chemical signal, change their local chemical environment, and transmit information about their current state. Moreover, Dr. Miskin and his team will be able to program these swarms of microrobots to organize, form patterns, and store and transmit information within the collective.

In his AFOSR YIP project, Dr. Miskin and his team will use these microscopic robots to create adaptive, programmable, and multifunctional materials.  The material will consist of swarms of tiny robots and passive particles that the robots can bond together. Collectively, they can be used for various applications, ranging from sensing to self-healing. Dr. Miskin believes these microscopic robots will have a role in the design of unmanned aircraft.