FLEXIBLE, DEFORMABLE SURFACES FORMED FROM ARRAYS OF SUB-MILLIMETER SIZED, LINEAR ELECTROMECHANI....

WITH THE RECENT ADVENT OF MICRO ELECTRO MECHANICAL SYSTEMS (MEMS), SENSORS AND ACTUATORS WITH CHARACTERISTIC DIMENSIONS IN THE RANGE OF ABOUT .5 TO 1000 MICRONS HAVE BEEN CONSTRUCTED. SUCH ADVANCES OPEN THE POSSIBLITIES FOR INTEGRATION OF A LARGE NUMBER OF SMALL SUBSYSTEMS TO PRODUCE METAMORPHIC MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES. DEVELOPMENT OF SUCH AN INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY, CONSISTING OF DISTRIBUTED PASSIVE AND ACTIVE SUB-ELEMENTS (STRUCTURES, SENSORS AND ACTUATORS) ANDCONTROL, CAN BE APPLICABLE TO ENHANCE THE MULTIMISSION PERFORMANCE OFVARIOUS SYSTEMS. AMONG SUCH FUNCTIONS ARE: ACOUSTIC SUPPRESSION OF SURFACE VIBRATION, TURBULENCE CONTROL, DAMAGE ASSESSMENT, SELF-REPAIRING MATERIAL, RADAR ABSORBING MATERIAL AND CONFORMABLE LIFTING SURFACES. WHILE THERE HAS BEEN EXTENSIVE DISCUSSION AND IDEAS REGARDING CONCEPT, DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF METAMORPHIC MATERIALS, THE PROGRESS IN THIS FIELD HAS BEEN LIMITED TO THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SUBSYSTEM ELEMENTS (SENSORS AND ACTUATORS). SARCOS RESEARCH CORPORATION (SRC) INCOOPERATION WITH THE CENTER FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN (CED) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH WOULD LIKE TO APPLY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD OF ROBOTICS, CONTROL AND MICRO DEVICES TO DEVELOP SUCH MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES. THIS PROPOSAL WILL INVESTIGATE THE POSSIBLE TYPE AND COMBINATION OF PASSIVE AND ACTIVE DISTRIBUTED SUBELEMENTS AND CONTROL FOR SUCHSYSTEMS. SPECIFICALLY, PHASE I RESEARCH WOULD CONSIST OF DESIGN CONCEPT FOR MICRO ACTUATORS, MICROSENSORS SELECTION, EVALUATION OF HETEROGENEOUS STRUCTURES, SUBSYSTEM ELEMENTS INTEGRATION AND CONTROL CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS -COMMERCIAL: REFLECTIVE SURFACES, REDUCE SENSITIVE INSTRUMENTS SHOCK