When it comes to manipulating microrobots to complete a task under pressure, Waterloo Engineering students are proving their work at the nanoscale is worth global recognition.
Taking first place in the Microassembly Challenge during the Mobile Microrobotics Challenge, at the annual International Conference for Robotics and Automation (ICRA), hosted by IEEE, members of the University of Waterloo NanoRobotics Group (UW_NRG) competed against university teams from Romania, India and the United States.
Comprised of nanotechnology and software engineering students, the UW_NRG delegation also placed second in the Mobility Challenge. UW_NRG as a whole consists of more than 20 undergraduate engineering students, and has competed and placed in this international competition since the group was founded in 2007. This marks the first year the team has clinched a first place win in the Microassembly Challenge.
Hosted in Stockholm, Sweden, the 2016 Mobile Microrobotics Challenge is sliced into three challenges in which microrobots, comparable in diameter to a strand of human hair, face off in tests of autonomy, accuracy, and assembly.
Placing first in the Microassembly Challenge, teams pushed their microrobots to assemble multiple microscale components inside a narrow channel in a fixed amount of time. The task is intended to simulate anticipated applications of microassembly, including manipulation within a human blood vessel and the assembly of components in nanomanufacturing.
Working with a microrobot only 0.3mm3 in diameter, the challenge was to assemble triangles with similar dimensions into a 0.6mm-wide opening. Surpassing the competition, UW_NRG team members assembled four triangles using magnetic actuators to move the robot across the tiny stage with millemetre dimensions.
The field of microrobotics is growing with vast potential for biomedical applications, such as cell manipulation and drug delivery. Competitions, like the Mobile Microrobotics Challenge allow undergraduate students to explore new applications and problem solve as a team.
University of Waterloo student representatives in attendance at ICRA for the competition were Tammy Liu, Software Engineering student, with Ciara Azam, Natalie Pinchin and Manasa Kaniselvan - all nanotechnology engineering students.