# Towards Dynamic Simulation Guided Optimal Design of Tumbling Microrobots

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel dynamic simulation approach for designing tumbling microrobots, accounting for complex contact interactions, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of microrobot development.

## Contribution

It presents new simulation techniques that model intermittent and non-point contact, enabling better shape selection for microrobot tasks.

## Key findings

- Simulation techniques for complex contact interactions
- Shape optimization for microrobots based on simulation
- Enhanced design process for microrobots

## Abstract

Design of robots at the small scale is a trial-and-error based process, which is costly and time-consuming. There are no good dynamic simulation tools to predict the motion or performance of a microrobot as it moves against a substrate. At smaller length scales, the influence of adhesion and friction, which scales with surface area, becomes more pronounced. Thus, rigid body dynamic simulators, which implicitly assume that contact between two bodies can be modeled as point contact are not suitable. In this paper, we present techniques for simulating the motion of microrobots where there can be intermittent and non-point contact between the robot and the substrate. We use this simulator to study the motion of microrobots of different shapes and select shapes that are most promising for performing a given task.