| This research presents the architecture, design, and analysis of a new digital-design paradigm called Field Programmable Robot Arrays (FPRAs). An FPRA combines limited reprogrammable logic with micro-robots having constrained motion and sensing capabilities. FPRAs are a novel combination of techniques from digital design and micro-robotics: routing reconfiguration via physical motion, functional reconfiguration via onboard reprogrammable logic, and autonomous motion control. The functional reconfiguration is achieved by a Field Programmable One-Hot Array (FPOHA), which is a novel reconfigurable logic type that encodes one-hot controllers efficiently. FPOHAs can implement motion algorithms, such as a parallax algorithm, to control the motion of MEMS Scratch Drive Actuators (SDAs). Prior SDA designs, which have been researched extensively in the field of MEMS, require external control using multilevel voltage encoding or tethers. A new solution to control the MEMS SDA from an onboard FPOHA is presented, making, for the first time, SDA micro-robots truly autonomous, without tethers or multilevel encoding. A novel approach to powering the onboard FPOHA from the SDA's inherently intermittent supply while preserving the one-hot state is also demonstrated through analysis and simulation. An improvement of adding an additional stylus arm to control left and right rotation as well as using both arms to halt is discussed. A novel solution of controlling electrical connections between the parallel-plate body and stylus arms is presented. A Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) was developed and applied which allowed a micro-robot to move towards a target using a global communication channel to guide the robot's path. By using Verilog and mixed signal simulation, this dissertation shows that the FPRA system is able to move, communicate, navigate, dock, and reconfigure to form a functioning target-logic circuit that matches the user's high-level specifications. Applications include earthquake rescue, medical assistive devices, space exploration and lab-on-a-chip. |
