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A Precise Magnetic Walking Mechanism

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DOI: 10.1109/TRO.2014.2360492

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1412
A Precise Magnetic Walking Mechanism
Jung Soo Choi and Yoon Su Baek
Abstract—Inspired by magnetically actuated precision motion
devices based on magnetic levitation and those based on elastic
suspension, we devised a novel magnetic actuation mechanism,
namely, a magnetic walking mechanism. This biped precision
mechanism is a legged precision mechanism that consists of two
elastically connected rigid legs. We designed the mechanism to
be driven by one horizontal actuator and two vertical actuators,
each comprising a permanent magnet and an air-core coil, and
to produce both fine motion and walking motion. We discuss the
underlying principles of force generation, leg actuation, fine mo-
tion, and walking motion. To demonstrate that both fine motion
and walking motion can be created with this mechanism, we built
and experimentally tested a two-legged walker. We successfully
created a legged precision device capable of long-range fine mo-
tion and long-step walking motion based on a magnetic walking
mechanism.
Index Terms—Bipedal walking, magnetic actuation, magnetic
walking, micro/nanorobots, precision positioning.
I. INTRODUCTION
EGGED precision positioning systems have been re-
L searched for applications such as micro- or nanoscale
manipulation, assembly, automation, and microscopy [1]–[7].
A legged precision machine requires actuators to produce dis-
placements at the micro- and nanoscales to realize movement
of the machine.
A general way to produce such small displacements is to use
piezoelectric actuators built with piezoelectric materials. These
piezoelectric actuators have been successfully used to create
legged precision machines for microscale or nanoscale opera-
tions. An obvious way to achieve walking motion is to build
a legged precision mechanism that uses piezoelectric actua-
tors as legs, with no requirement for mechanical bearings such
as ball or roller bearings. For instance, Binnig and Gerber [1]
proposed a piezoelectric traveling support using an eight-legged
lift-shift-place-lift-shift-place locomotion method. Uozumi
et al. [2] constructed a piezoelectric walker based on a six-legged
shrink-shear-expand-shrink-shear-expand walking mechanism.
Breguet and Renaud [3] built a piezoelectric robot using a three-
legged stick–slip locomotion mechanism. This type of mecha-
nism has also been used in MINIMAN robots [4], [5]. Martel
Manuscript received November 8, 2013; revised March 29, 2014; accepted
September 22, 2014. Date of publication October 14, 2014; date of current
version December 3, 2014. This paper was recommended for publication by
Associate Editor J. Dai and Editor B. J. Nelson upon evaluation of the reviewers’
comments. This work was supported by grants from the National Research
Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korea government (MSIP) under
Grant NRF-2008-0059827 and Grant NRF-2009-0080591.
J. S. Choi is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate
School, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea (e-mail: jschoi@yonsei.ac.kr).
Y. S. Baek is with the School of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University,
Seoul 120-749, Korea (e-mail: ysbaek@yonsei.ac.kr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TRO.2014.2360492
1552-3098 © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 30, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2014
et al. [6], [7] built a piezoelectric robot, called NanoWalker,
whose design is based on a three-legged push-slip locomotion
mechanism. All of these legged precision mechanisms are based
on the piezoelectric actuation principle, and they are well suited
for use in the manufacture of legged precision machines that
walk on individually actuated deformable legs, i.e., piezoelec-
tric legs, but such legs have short range of motion due to the
limited displacements of piezoelectric actuators. To overcome
this main disadvantage, a new legged precision mechanism is
required.
Another way to produce displacements at the micro- and
nanoscales is to use magnetic actuators that comprise permanent
magnets and air-core coils. These magnetic actuators have been
successfully used to create precision positioning systems that
require micro- or nanopositioning capability. There are two main
types of magnetically driven precision positioners: positioners
based on magnetic levitation (maglev) [8]–[11] and positioners
based on spring or flexure suspension [12]–[15]. These devices
provide frictionless fine motion with the help of noncontact
actuation and frictionless suspension; therefore, they do not
suffer from mechanical friction and the resulting wear. In the
case of the former, mechanical friction between a moving part
and a stationary part is eliminated by magnetically levitating
the moving part off the stationary part. In the case of the latter,
mechanical friction between a moving part and a stationary part
is eliminated by supporting the moving part by means of springs
or flexures.
Examples of magnetically driven precision positioners based
on magnetic levitation are as follows. Hollis et al. [8] designed
a maglev wrist driven by six actuation units, each of which con-
sisted of four magnets, one coil, and two steel plates. Kim and
Trumper [9] developed a maglev stage driven by four permanent
magnet linear motors that consisted of Halbach magnet arrays
and coil sets. Jung and Baek [10] presented a maglev positioner
driven by a surface actuator that comprised multiple magnets
and multiple coils. Kim and Verma [11] described a maglev po-
sitioner driven by three actuation units, each of which consisted
of one magnet and two coils.
Examples of magnetically driven precision positioners based
on spring or flexure suspension are as follows. Smith et al.
[12] designed a flexure-based actuation mechanism consisting
of two magnets and two coils. Wang and He [13] developed a
spring-suspended positioner driven by an actuation mechanism
that comprised three groups of coils and 12 magnetic shoes built
with multiple magnets and multiple steel plates. Culpepper and
Anderson [14] presented a flexure-based manipulator driven by
three actuation units built with magnets and coils. Teo et al. [15]
described a flexure-based linear actuator built with four magnets
and one coil.
The aforementioned precision positioners consist of two
parts: a magnet assembly and a coil assembly. According to
CHOI AND BAEK: PRECISE MAGNETIC WALKING MECHANISM
Fig. 1. Conceptual design of our proposed magnetic walking mechanism.
which of the two assemblies is movable, actuation mechanisms
used for these precision positioners can be categorized into two
groups: moving-magnet type [9]–[11], [14] or moving-coil type
[8], [13], [15]. In a moving-magnet-type actuation mechanism,
the magnet assembly is movable, and the coil assembly is sta-
tionary. In a moving-coil-type actuation mechanism, the coil
assembly is movable, while the magnet assembly is stationary.
Both types are suitable for use in the manufacture of microp-
ositioning or nanopositioning systems, but it is difficult to see
how these mechanisms’ range of horizontal motion could be
increased without redesigning them or increasing their size. To
overcome this difficulty, a new actuation mechanism is required.
Inspired by magnetically actuated and levitated precision po-
sitioners and by magnetically actuated and elastically suspended
precision positioners, we devised a magnetic actuation mecha-
nism that is capable not only of frictionless fine motion over a
limited range but of walking motion as well. Here, we describe
our novel magnetic actuation mechanism. The conceptual de-
sign of our mechanism is provided in Fig. 1. Its principle of
walking motion is illustrated in Fig. 2.
Table I briefly compares our mechanism with existing mag-
netic actuation mechanisms [11], [15].
The magnetic actuation mechanism that we propose here con-
sists of two elastically connected parts: a magnet assembly and
a coil assembly. It is a combination of a moving-magnet-type
actuation mechanism and a moving-coil-type actuation mecha-
nism. Namely, we designed this mechanism to act as a moving-
magnet-type mechanism to move the magnet assembly and to
act as a moving-coil-type mechanism to move the coil assembly.
Our proposed mechanism has two modes of operation: fine
motion and walking motion. When the mechanism is in fine
motion mode, one of this mechanism’s two assemblies can be
moved with the other planted on a base. When the mechanism
is in walking motion mode, it can walk using its two assemblies
along the x-axis. This walking motion enables it to incremen-
tally extend a range of travel in the x-axis direction without the
requirement for extra actuation elements or increases in size,
making it both compact and simple.
We designed this magnetic actuation mechanism for use in the
manufacture of a legged precision walker, which we, hereafter,
refer to as a magnetic walking mechanism. We designed it not
to suffer from friction that would limit its precision of motion;
this frictionless design helps to produce precise motion, and
therefore, we refer to our mechanism as a precise magnetic
walking mechanism.
Table II compares our mechanism with existing precision
walking mechanisms [2], [3], [6], [7].
1413
The novel features of our mechanism in comparison with
existing legged precision mechanisms are as follows.
1) Magnetic actuation: Movement is based on the principle
of magnetic actuation. Motion is driven by one horizontal
magnet-coil force actuator and two vertical magnet-coil
force actuators. Each actuator consists of a permanent
magnet and an air-core coil.
2) Rigid leg: It has two rigid frames, each of which is used
as a rigid leg.
3) Biped: It has two elastically connected rigid legs—an up-
per leg and a lower leg. These two rigid legs are connected
by springs to support the weight of the upper leg and to
provide mechanical stiffness; therefore, the biped struc-
ture is stable during the displacement of each leg, which
helps to achieve a stable walking motion. The upper leg is
suspended by springs (like the moving part of an existing
positioner based on elastic suspension); therefore, there
is no mechanical friction between the upper leg and the
base on which the mechanism walks. The lower leg, which
is elastically connected to the upper leg, can be magneti-
cally lifted off the base (like the moving part of an existing
positioner based on magnetic levitation); therefore, me-
chanical friction between the lower leg and the base can
be eliminated.
4) Bipedal walking: It locomotes via the alternation of two
elastically connected rigid legs. That is, it walks by at-
tracting its two legs to each other and repelling them from
each other so as to eliminate the effect of mechanical fric-
tion between each leg and the base. It achieves walking
motion by repeating this attract-propel-repel-propel cy-
cle. More specifically, the mechanism takes one step in
the following sequence. First, the upper leg is attracted
down to the lower leg, and then the lower leg is attracted
up to the attracted upper leg. Second, the attracted lower
leg is propelled forward. Third, the propelled lower leg is
repelled down from the attracted upper leg, and then, the
attracted upper leg is repelled up from the repelled lower
leg. Finally, the repelled upper leg is propelled forward.
5) Actuator sharing: Its rigid legs share actuators. Horizontal
and vertical actuators used to drive the upper leg can be
used to drive the lower leg, when the upper leg is lowered
and the lower leg is lifted by the magnetic attraction forces
provided by the vertical actuators; therefore, there is no
need to add extra actuators to drive the lower leg.
We built a magnetic walker based on the mechanism de-
scribed previously and tested it experimentally to demonstrate
the feasibility of the mechanism. To demonstrate the proof of
concept, the walker built was a macroscopic device operated
in open-loop (manual) control; this allowed us to build the de-
vice simply and to see it without using a microscope. In this
study, magnetic actuation was chosen over piezoelectric actu-
ation because piezoelectric actuators are limited in their maxi-
mum displacement; piezoelectric actuators have the advantage
that they can be driven at high frequencies, but this advantage is
not needed in a manually controlled positioning or manipulation
system.
The main contribution of this paper is the proposal of a mag-
netic actuation mechanism capable of frictionless fine motion
1414 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 30, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2014

Fig. 2. Magnetic walking mechanism. (a) Principle of walking motion (for clarity, the coils and magnets are not shown. A detailed description of the principle
of walking motion is given in Section VI). (b) Currents applied to the vertical and horizontal coils in each transition. (c) Directions of the applied currents. The
trailing superscript u denotes that the upper leg is in transition from one state to the next. The trailing superscript l denotes that the lower leg is in transition from
one state to the next. The initial distance between the supports of the upper leg and the base when no currents are applied to the actuators is represented as gs 0 .

TABLE I
COMPARISON OF OUR MECHANISM WITH EXISTING MAGNETIC ACTUATION MECHANISMS

Kim and Verma’s mechanism [11] Teo et al.’s mechanism [15] Our proposed mechanism

Actuation configuration MOVING-MAGNET-TYPE ACTUATION MOVING-COIL-TYPE ACTUATION Combination of moving-magnet-type actuation and
moving-coil-type actuation
Advantages Simple single-rigid-body dynamics No redesign or increase in size is required to increase the range of
horizontal motion
Disadvantages Increasing the range of horizontal motion requires redesign or an increase in size. Complex multiple-rigid-body dynamics

and walking motion, namely, the magnetic walking mecha-
nism and the experimental demonstration of this mechanism’s
feasibility.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In
Section II, we describe the basic structure and force-generation
principles of the proposed mechanism. Vertical and horizontal
actuators of the mechanism are described in Section III, while
the principle of shared leg actuation is described in Section IV.
In Section V, we describe the fine motion of each leg and, in
Section VI the walking motion of the mechanism. A prototype
built based on the mechanism is presented in Section VII, and
experimental results are provided in Section VIII. Section IX
concludes this paper.
II. BASIC STRUCTURE AND FORCE-GENERATION PRINCIPLE
The magnetic walking mechanism consists of two elastically
connected moving parts (see Fig. 1), each of which is a rigid leg.
In other words, this mechanism has two elastically connected
rigid legs. One leg is the upper body. The upper leg is a magnet
assembly that has an upper platform to which permanent mag-
nets and mechanical supports are attached. The other leg is the
lower body. The lower leg is a coil assembly that has a lower
platform on which air-core coils are mounted. These legs are
connected and guided by springs. The upper leg is suspended
by springs, and the lower leg is supported by a base.
To generate forces in the x- and z-axes and a torque about
the y-axis, a minimum of three single-axis actuators must be
incorporated. Because the mechanical and control complexity
of the mechanism, as well as its size, increase with the number
of actuators used, we incorporated this minimum number of
actuators in our mechanism to make it as simple and small
as possible. Three magnet–coil pairs are used to actuate the
two legs. Two magnet–coil pairs on the left and right generate
vertical forces on the upper leg and reaction forces on the lower
leg. Both legs are raised and lowered by applying currents to the
coils on the left and right of the lower leg. These two magnet–
coil pairs are used as vertical actuators to raise and lower the two
legs. The vertical actuators are based on magnetic attraction and
repulsion. The other magnet–coil pair in the middle generates
CHOI AND BAEK: PRECISE MAGNETIC WALKING MECHANISM 1415

TABLE II
COMPARISON OF OUR MECHANISM WITH EXISTING PRECISION WALKING MECHANISMS

Uozumi et al.’s mechanism [2] Breguet and Renaud’s Martel et al.’s mechanism [6], Our proposed mechanism
mechanism [3] [7]

Actuation type PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATION Magnetic actuation

Leg type DEFORMABLE LEGS Rigid legs
Structure A RIGID FRAME TO WHICH DEFORMABLE LEGS ARE ATTACHED WITHOUT THE REQUIREMENT FOR ME- Two rigid frames that are elastically
CHANICAL BEARINGS SUCH AS BALL BEARINGS THAT SUFFER FROM MECHANICAL FRICTION. connected to each other without the
requirement for mechanical bearings such
as ball bearings that suffer from
mechanical friction. The rigid frames act
as legs.
Leg actuation means INDIVIDUAL LEG ACTUATION: EACH LEG HAS ITS OWN MEANS OF INDIVIDUAL ACTUATION. Shared leg actuation: legs share an
actuation means.
Locomotion technique HEXAPOD SHRINK-SHEAR- TRIPOD STICK-SLIP TRIPOD PUSH-SLIP BIPED ATTRACT-PROPEL-REPEL-PROPEL
EXPAND-SHRINK-SHEAR-EXPAND LOCOMOTION LOCOMOTION LOCOMOTION
LOCOMOTION
Differences • Well-suited for use in the • Well-suited for use in the manufacture of a walker that is driven • Well-suited for use in the manufacture of
manufacture of a walker that at a rate of thousands of steps per second so as to walk with fast a walker that walks by attracting two legs
walks by shrinking each of two steps. to each other and repelling them from each
sets of three legs and expanding other so as to eliminate the effect of
them before shrinking the other mechanical friction between the legs and a
set so as to eliminate the effect of walking surface.• Well-suited for use in
mechanical friction between the the manufacture of a walker that walks by
legs and a walking surface. means of rigid legs, which share actuators,
with long steps (hundreds of micrometers)
along the x-axis.
• They are well suited for use in the manufacture of a walker that walks by means of deformable legs,
which are actuated individually, with short steps (of tens of micrometers or less) along the x- and y-axes.
• Not suitable for use in the • Not suitable for use in the manufacture of a walker that walks • Not designed for use in the manufacture
manufacture of a walker that is by lifting its legs properly off a walking surface so as to eliminate of a walker that is driven at a rate of
driven at a rate of thousands of the effect of mechanical friction between the legs and the walking thousands of steps per second so as to
steps per second so as to walk surface. walk with fast steps. • Not designed for
with fast steps. use in the manufacture of a walker that
walks by means of deformable legs, which
are actuated individually, with short steps
along the x- and y-axes.
• Not designed for use in the manufacture of a walker that walks by means of rigid legs, which share
actuators, with long steps.
Advantages Simple single-rigid-frame structure. Legs have long ranges of motion.
Disadvantages Legs have short ranges of motion. Complex multiple-rigid-frame structure.

a horizontal force on the upper leg and a reaction force on the In contrast, the horizontal actuator is composed of one mag-
lower leg. Both legs are propelled by applying a current to the net that is magnetized in the positive z-axis direction and one
coil in the middle of the lower leg. This magnet–coil pair is used coil whose air-core axis is parallel to the x-axis direction. This
as a horizontal actuator to propel the two legs. The horizontal magnet–coil pair is a horizontal actuator. The magnet in the
actuator is based on magnetic propulsion. A detailed description middle of the upper leg interacts with the current-carrying coil
of each actuator is provided in the following section. in the middle of the lower leg. The magnetic interaction between
them generates magnetic force in the x-axis direction.
Theoretically, the magnetic force generated by interaction
III. VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ACTUATORS between magnetic elements can be expressed by the modified
Lorentz’s law, which is expressed in vector form [16], [17] as
As described briefly in Section II, the magnetic walking mech-
anism uses two vertical actuators, which generate z-axis mag- F = (m · ∇)B (1)
netic forces to move the upper and lower bodies in the z-axis
direction and one horizontal actuator, which generates an x-axis where m is the magnetic dipole moment, and B is the magnetic
magnetic force to move the legs in the x-axis direction. As de- flux density. If a cylindrical permanent magnet has a magnetic
picted in Fig. 1, the three magnets of the actuators are attached dipole moment m (m = mx î + my ĵ + mz k̂, where mx = 0,
to the upper leg, and the three coils of the actuators are mounted my = 0, and mz = constant), the rectangular components of
on the lower leg. the force can be expressed as
Each vertical actuator comprises one magnet magnetized in
the positive z-axis direction and one coil whose air-core axis ∂Bx
F x = mz (2)
is parallel to the z-axis direction. This magnet–coil pair is a ∂z
vertical actuator. Magnets on the left and right of the upper ∂By
F y = mz (3)
leg interact magnetically with the current-carrying coils on the ∂z
left and right of the lower leg, respectively. Each interaction ∂Bz
generates magnetic force in the z-axis direction. F z = mz . (4)
∂z
1416 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 30, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2014

We approximated the value of the magnetic dipole moment of

the permanent magnet using the following expression developed
by Wangsness [16] for the magnetic flux density along the axis
of a cylindrical solenoid:
2Bm a
mz =
μ0 Vm
⎡   ⎤
2
rm 2
+ zm 2 + (h − z
rm 2
p m mp)
·⎣   2 ⎦
(hm − zm p ) rm + zm p + zm p rm + (hm − zm p )
2 2 2

(5)
where hm is the height of the magnet, rm is the radius, Vm is
the volume, zm p is the distance from the center to a point on the
axis, Bm a is the measured magnetic flux density on the center
of the magnet’s surface, and μ0 is the permeability of free space
(4π × 10−7 N·A−2 ).
To calculate the forces of vertical and horizontal actuators,
the magnetic field produced by the air-core coil has to be deter- Fig. 3. Vertical actuator. (a) Vertical coil. (b) Distance from the center of the
vertical coil to the center of the permanent magnet. (c) Cross section of the
mined; we describe how we determined the field below. vertical coil. (d) jth square wire loop in the vertical coil.

A. Magnetic Field of an Air-Core Coil

The magnetic flux density B of a current-carrying wire at

point P can be expressed by the Biot–Savart law, as shown as aj
Zdy1 î − X1 dy1 k̂
bV 4 = . (8d)
follows in vector form [16]: −a j [X12 + (y1p − y1 )2 + Z 2 ]3/2

μ0 i ds × R
B(p) = (6)
4π R3 Here, Z, Y1 , Y2 , X1 , and X2 denote (z1p −z10 ), (y1p −aj ), (y1p +

where i is the current that the wire carries, ds is an element aj ), (x1p −aj ), and (x1p + aj ), respectively; î, ĵ, and k̂ are unit
of length along the wire, and R is the position vector from the vectors parallel to the x-, y-, and z-axes, respectively, where the
current element ids to the point P. Using the Biot–Savart law, xz plane is parallel to the x1 − z1 plane; the center of mass of
we calculated the magnetic flux density of the air-core coil in the air-core solenoid in the vertical actuator is located at the
each actuator. origin of the vertical actuator O1 ; and the center of mass of the
The z-axis air-core coil in the vertical actuator is shown in permanent magnet is located at point P1 , whose coordinates are
Fig. 3. The symbols  and ⊗ denote the direct current applied to (0, 0, z1p ) in reference to the origin of the vertical actuator O1
the coil points out of and into the paper, respectively. We approx- when the magnet center is placed on the z1 axis, as shown in
imated the value of the total magnetic flux density B V of the Fig. 3(b).
z-axis air-core coil at a point P1 by integrating the contribution The rectangular components of the magnetic flux density of
of each square loop carrying current iV as follows: the z-axis air-core coil in (7) can be expressed as
 D V /2  L V/2
μ0 NV iV  D V /2  L V /2
BV = bV j dz10 daj (7) μ0 NV iV
4π( 12 DV − 12 dV )LV d V/2 −L V/2 (BV)x = (bv j )x dz10 daj
4π( 12 DV − 12 dV )LV d V /2 −L V /2
where NV is the number of windings. Here, bVj is contributed
by the jth square loop shown in Fig. 3(d), whose dimensions are (9)
2aj × 2aj and can be expressed as  DV /2  L V /2
μ0 NV iV
(BV )y = (bv j )y dz10 daj
bVj = bV 1 + bV 2 + bV 3 + bV 4 (8) 4π( 12 DV − 12 dV )LV d V /2 −L V /2

where (10)
  D V /2  L V /2
aj
Zdx1 ĵ − Y1 dx1 k̂ (BV )z =
μ0 NV iV
(bv j )z dz10 daj .
bV 1 = (8a)
−a j [(x1p − x1 )2 + Y12 + Z 2 ]3/2 4π( 2 DV − 12 dV
1
)LV d V /2 −L V /2
 (11)
aj
−Zdy1 î + X2 dy1 k̂
bV 2 = (8b)
−a j [X2 + (y1p − y1 )2 + Z 2 ]3/2
2

 The x-axis air-core coil in the horizontal actuator is shown

aj
−Zdx1 ĵ + Y2 dx1 k̂ in Fig. 4. We approximated the value of the total magnetic flux
bV 3 = (8c)
−a j [(x1p − x1 )2 + Y22 + Z 2 ]3/2 density B H of the x-axis air-core coil at point P2 by integrating
CHOI AND BAEK: PRECISE MAGNETIC WALKING MECHANISM 1417

We expressed the rectangular components of the magnetic

flux density of the x-axis air-core coil in (12) as follows:
 D H/2  L H/2
μ0 NH iH
(BH )x = (bH k )x dx20 dak
4π( 12 DH − 12 dH )LH d H/2 −L H /2
(14)
 D H/2  L H/2
μ0 NH iH
(BH )y = (bH k )y dx20 dak
4π( 12 DH − 12 dH )LH d H/2 −L H/2

(15)
 D H/2  L H/2
μ0 NH iH
(BH )z = (bH k )z dx20 dak .
4π( 2 DH − 12 dH )LH
1
d H/2 −L H/2

(16)

B. Magnetic Force Generated by Each Magnet–Coil Pair

The magnetic dipole moment of the permanent magnet and
Fig. 4. Horizontal actuator. (a) Vertical coil. (b) Distance from the center of the magnetic flux density of the z-axis air-core coil are given
the horizontal coil to the center of the permanent magnet. (c) Cross section of
the horizontal coil. (d) kth square wire loop in the horizontal coil.
by (5) and (11), respectively. Inserting these expressions into
the right-hand side of (4) gives the following expression for the
z-axis force generated by the vertical actuator:
∂(BV )z
the contribution of each square loop carrying current iH : fz = mz . (17)
∂z1p
 D H /2  L H /2 The magnetic dipole moment of the permanent magnet and
μ0 NH iH
BH = bH k dx20 dak the magnetic flux density of the x-axis air-core coil are given by
4π( 2 DH − 12 dH )LH
1
d H /2 −L H /2 (5) and (14), respectively. The permanent magnet in the hori-
(12)
zontal actuator has the same magnetization direction as that of
where NH is the number of windings. Here, bH k , contributed
the permanent magnet in the vertical actuator. Inserting these
by the kth square loop shown in Fig. 4(d), whose dimensions
expressions into the right-hand side of (2) gives the follow-
are 2ak × 2ak , can be expressed as
ing expression for the x-axis force generated by the horizontal
actuator:
bH k = bH 1 + bH 2 + bH 3 + bH 4 (13)
∂(BH )x
fx = mz . (18)
∂z2p
where
 C. Magnetic Force Quantization and Experimental
ak
f2 dy2 î − h dy2 k̂ Characterization
bH1 = (13a)
−a k [h + (y2p − y2 )2 + f22 ]3/2
2
We calculated the magnetic forces using (17) and (18) and
 ak
−g1 dz2 î + h dz2 ĵ conducted experiments on magnet-coil forces. Forces were
bH2 = (13b) measured using a six-axis force/torque sensor (Nano17, ATI)
−a k [h2 + g12 + (z2p − z2 )2 ]3/2
 mounted on an xyz stage (BSS76-60C, Suruga Seiki). For each
ak
−f1 dy2 î + h dy2 k̂ magnet–coil pair, the magnet was attached to the sensor, and the
bH3 = (13c)
−a k [h2 + (y2p − y2 )2 + f12 ]3/2 coil was fixed to a base plate.
 As shown in Table III, the magnet and coil used in the vertical
ak
g2 dz2 î − h dz2 ĵ actuator were the same as those used in the horizontal actuator,
bH4 = . (13d)
−a k [h2 + g22 + (z2p − z2 )2 ]3/2 except that the coil of the vertical actuator had a z-axis air core,
and the coil of the horizontal actuator had an x-axis air core. The
Here, f1 , f2 , g1 , g2 , and h denote (z2p −ak ), (z2p + ak ), vertical actuator force and the horizontal actuator force were
(y2p −ak ), (y2p + ak ), and (x2p −x20 ), respectively; the xz plane theoretically and experimentally obtained under two individual
is parallel to the x2 z2 plane; the center of mass of the air-core conditions. The first condition was that the distance from the
solenoid in the horizontal actuator is located at the origin of the center of the coil to the center of the magnet was variable within
horizontal actuator O2 ; and the center of mass of the permanent a fixed range of travel in the z-axis direction when the current
magnet is located at point P2 with coordinates (0, 0, z2p ) in applied to the coil was fixed. The second condition was that
reference to the origin of the horizontal actuator O2 when the the applied current was variable within a fixed range of current
magnet center is placed on the z2 axis, as shown in Fig. 4(b). when the distance from the coil center to the magnet center was
1418 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 30, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2014

TABLE III
MAGNETIC ELEMENTS USED IN THE VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ACTUATORS

Element Dimensions & Material

Vertical coil 20 mm × 20 mm × 20 mm (L × W × H)∗

Air-core size: 12 mm × 12 mm × 20 mm
Number of windings: 280
Fig. 7. Actuation forces acting on the upper leg: (a) Vertical forces. (b) Hori-
Copper wire
zontal force. For clarity, the magnets, supports, and springs are not shown.
Horizontal coil 20 mm × 20 mm × 20 mm
Air-core size: 20 mm × 12 mm × 12 mm
Number of windings: 280
Copper wire
Permanent magnet 10 mm in diameter and 10 mm in height
Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB)
Measured magnetic flux density on the center of the magnet
surface (B ma ): 0.475 T (4.75 kG)

∗
L: Length, W: Width, H: Height.

Fig. 8. Actuation forces acting on the lower leg: (a) Vertical forces. (b) Hori-
zontal force. For clarity, the coils and springs are not shown.

as the current decreased, which means that the magnetic force

was proportional to the current. Magnetic force was a function
of both applied current and distance. These results indicated
that the calculated forces of the vertical actuator were in good
agreement with the measured forces and that the derived forces
of the horizontal actuator were also in good agreement with the
measured forces.
From the experimental data depicted in Figs. 5 and 6, the
following models of magnetic force were derived:
Fig. 5. Calculated and experimental force values of the vertical actuator.
fz (iV , z1p ) = (C1 − C2 z1p )iV (19)
fx (iH , z2p ) = (C3 − C4 z2p )iH . (20)

In (19) and (20), z1p and z2p are, respectively, the distance
between the center of the magnet of the vertical actuator and the
center of the coil of the vertical actuator and the distance between
the center of the magnet of the horizontal actuator and the center
of the coil of the horizontal actuator; iV and iH are, respectively,
the current applied to the coil of the vertical actuator and the
current applied to the coil of the horizontal actuator; and C1 ,
C2 , C3 , and C4 are constants, which are calculated from the
experimental data as C1 = 0.85 N·A−1 , C2 = 25.5 N·m−1 ·A−1 ,
C3 = 0.344 N·A−1 , and C4 = 14.96 N·m−1 ·A−1 .

Fig. 6. Calculated and experimental force values of the horizontal actuator.
fixed. The magnet center and the coil center were placed on the
z-axis.
Comparisons between theoretical and empirical values are
shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The magnetic force of each actuator
increased as the distance decreased, whereas the magnetic force
decreased as the distance increased, indicating that magnetic
force was dependent on distance. Furthermore, the magnetic
force increased as the current that was applied to the coil of
each actuator increased, whereas the magnetic force decreased
IV. SHARED LEG ACTUATION
The horizontal actuator exerts one horizontal force on the
rigid legs, while the vertical actuators exert two vertical forces on
the rigid legs. The actuation forces acting on the upper and lower
legs are depicted in Figs. 7 and 8, respectively. The mechanism
uses the action forces, i.e., moving-magnet-type actuation forces
created by the vertical and horizontal actuators to move the upper
leg; the mechanism uses reaction forces, i.e., moving-coil-type
actuation forces created by the vertical and horizontal actuators
to move the lower leg.
The total magnetic forces on the upper or lower leg in the x-
and z-axes and the torque about the y-axis are
CHOI AND BAEK: PRECISE MAGNETIC WALKING MECHANISM 1419

FHq = fHq (21)

FVq = fVq L
+ fVq R (22)
Tyq = −rm L × fVq L + rm R × fVq R (23)
where FHq and FVq are the total magnetic forces in the horizontal
(x-axis) and vertical (z-axis) directions, respectively, on leg q, Fig. 9. Actuation forces and spring forces (a) acting on the upper leg that is
where q = u denotes the upper leg and q = l denotes the lower suspended by the springs, when counterclockwise currents are applied to the
leg; Tyq is the torque about the y axis on leg q; fHq is the horizontal vertical coils, and a counterclockwise current is applied to the horizontal coil,
and (b) acting on the lower leg that is elastically connected to the upper leg
magnetic force on leg q created by the middle actuator; fVq L and and is lifted off the base when counterclockwise currents are applied to the
fVq R are the vertical magnetic forces on leg q created by the vertical coils, and a counterclockwise current is applied to the horizontal coil.
left and right actuators, respectively; and rm L and rm R are the For clarity, the magnets, coils, springs, and supports are not shown.
distances along the x-axis from the center of mass of the upper
leg to the centers of mass of the left and of the right magnets,
respectively, which are, respectively, equal to the distances along
the x-axis from the center of mass of the lower leg to the centers
of mass of the coils on the left and on the right.
The total magnetic forces in the x- and z-axes on the upper leg
have opposite directions to those on the lower leg. The directions
of horizontal and vertical magnetic forces on both the upper and
Fig. 10. Dynamic model of the upper leg. When the mechanism is in the
lower legs are determined by the directions of currents applied moving-magnet-type configuration (a), it generates horizontal motion of the
to the horizontal and vertical actuators, respectively. The torque upper leg (b) and vertical motion of the upper leg (c).
about the y-axis on the upper leg is in the opposite direction to
that on the lower leg. These opposite relationships result from
both the action and reaction forces arising from magnetic inter-
action between the magnets and the coils. When a torque about
the y-axis due to vertical actuator forces and a magnetic torque
about the y-axis due to the interaction between the magnet in the
middle of the upper leg and the coil in the middle of the lower
leg, which is not required for functioning of the mechanism,
have equal magnitudes and opposite directions, these torques
cancel each other out; therefore, the resulting rotation about the
y-axis (pitch motion) can be set to be zero.
We designed the mechanism to have two actuation
configurations—moving-magnet type and moving-coil type— Fig. 11. Dynamic model of the lower leg. (a) When no currents are applied
so that the legs could share actuators. The configuration can to the coils, the mechanism has a moving-magnet-type configuration. (b) When
be changed from moving-magnet type to moving-coil type by counterclockwise currents are applied to the vertical coils, the vertical actuators
exert attraction forces on the upper leg, which causes the upper leg to be attracted
attracting the legs to each other. Furthermore, the configuration down to the lower leg, i.e., to be lowered and placed on the base. (c) As the
can be changed from the moving-coil-type configuration to the currents applied to the vertical coils increase, the attraction forces increase,
moving-magnet-type configuration by repelling the legs from which causes the lower leg to be attracted up to the attracted upper leg, i.e.,
to be lifted off the base. (d) When the upper leg is placed on the base and the
each other. When the mechanism is in the moving-magnet-type lower leg is lifted off the base, i.e., when the mechanism has a moving-coil-type
actuation configuration, the upper leg is movable, and the lower configuration, the mechanism generates horizontal and vertical motions of the
leg is stationary. When the mechanism is in the moving-coil- lower leg.
type actuation configuration, the upper leg is stationary, and the
lower leg is movable. The actuators used to drive the upper leg
are also used to drive the lower leg this way; therefore, there is respectively, on leg q. To obtain a tractable mathematical model
no need to add extra actuators to drive the lower leg. for the mechanism, we assumed that we could neglect distur-
bances such as vibrations and acoustic noises, damping effects
V. FINE MOTION due to magnetic interactions between the magnetic elements,
Fine motion of the two rigid legs is achieved using the shared and air friction between the legs.
leg actuation mechanism described in Section IV. When hori- The equations of motion for the upper or lower leg that sum
zontal and vertical forces provided by the actuators are applied the forces on the upper or lower leg in the x- and z-directions (see
to the legs, one of the two legs creates two translations (x and Figs. 10 and 11), derived from Newton’s law for translational
z), whereas the other maintains contact with a base. motion [18], are
Fig. 9 illustrates the magnetic and spring forces acting on the q
q q mq ẍq + FsH = FHq (24)
upper and lower legs. Here, FsH and FsV are the total spring
q
forces in the horizontal (x-axis) and vertical (z-axis) directions, mq z̈q + FsV = FVq (25)
1420
Fig. 12. State machine that tracks the walking behavior of the mechanism.
The trailing superscript u denotes that the upper leg is in transition from one
state to the next or in a state between one transition and the next. The trailing
superscript l denotes that the lower leg is in transition from one state to the next
or in a state between one transition and the next.
where xq and zq are the displacements of leg q in the x- and
z-directions, respectively, and mq is the mass of leg q.
When the mechanism has the moving-magnet-type actuation
configuration [see Fig. 10(a)], the two translations of the upper
leg and its other DOF motions are stabilized by the springs.
The upper leg, which is suspended by springs and to which no
mechanical bearings such as ball bearings are connected, moves
through magnetic actuation; therefore, there is no mechanical
friction between the upper leg and the base. This elimination of
mechanical friction helps the upper leg to move precisely. The
upper leg moves in the x- and z-directions when the lower leg
is stationary on the base. When the mechanism has the moving-
coil-type actuation configuration [see Fig. 11(c)], the weight of
the upper leg is canceled out by the total z-axis magnetic force
on the lower leg, and the two translations of the lower leg and
its other DOF motions are stabilized by the springs. The lower
leg is lifted off the base by forces of the vertical actuators so
that mechanical friction between the lower leg and the base
can be avoided. This avoidance of mechanical friction helps the
lower leg to move precisely. The lower leg moves in the x- and
z-directions when the upper leg is stationary on the base.
VI. WALKING MOTION
As depicted in Fig. 2 and briefly described in Section I,
walking motion of the mechanism is achieved by repeating an
attract-propel-repel-propel cycle. During one cycle of walking,
the mechanism takes one step.
The walking sequence of our mechanism is represented in
Fig. 12 based on the concept of a state diagram as described in
[19] and [20]. The action of walking is modeled as six states
and six transitions between states. The transition from one state
to the next occurs due to a change in input to the actuators, i.e.,
currents applied to the coils of the actuators. Examples of how
the currents excite the coils of the actuators for each transition
are provided in Fig. 2(b) and (c). Our walking model includes
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 30, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2014
two differential equations for each of the transitions and a state
diagram to sequence the walking cycle. To obtain a tractable
mathematical walking model for the mechanism, we made the
same simplifying assumption as when we derived the equations
of motion for each leg in Section V.
The walking sequence starts in State 0 with the lower leg
on the base and the upper leg suspended by springs. State 0
represents the stationary mechanism with no applied current.
No actuation forces exist in State 0.
The initial distance between the supports of the upper leg and
the base is determined in State 0, which is represented as gs0 [see
Fig. 2(a)]. There is no motion in State 0, and thus, the relative
positions of the upper and lower legs with respect to the initial
positions are (0, 0, 0) and (0, 0, 0), respectively. As the centers
of mass of the two legs are on the z-axis in the initial conditions,
the initial positions of the centers of mass of the upper and lower
legs defined from the common origin of the fixed x, y, z reference
frame are (0, 0, zu 0 ) and (0, 0, zl0 ), respectively. The modified
positions of the upper and lower legs due to their motion in the
fixed reference frame can be expressed as (xu , yu , zu 0 + zu ) and
(xl , yl , zl0 + zl ), respectively. Therefore, the relative positions
of the upper and lower legs with respect to their initial positions
becomes (xu , yu , zu ) and (xl , yl , zl ), respectively.
We define w δxq and w δzq as small perturbations of leg q
in the x- and z-directions for Transition w, respectively, while
w q
FH and w FVq are the total magnetic forces in the horizontal
(x-axis) and vertical (z-axis) directions for Transition w, respec-
tively, on leg q. The leading superscript w denotes the Transition
number, w = 1, 2, 3, . . . , 6. For instance, 1 δxu and 1 δzu repre-
sent perturbations of the upper leg in the x- and z-directions for
Transition 1, respectively.
For Transition 1 from State 0 to State 1 (Attractionu in
Figs. 2 and 12), the equations of motion of the mechanism
become
mu 1 ẍu + KH 1 xu = 0 (26)
mu z̈u + KV zu = −
1 1 1
FVu (27)
where KH and KV are the spring constants in the horizontal
and vertical directions, respectively. This transition occurs by
application of counterclockwise currents to the vertical coils in
State 0, as shown in Fig. 2(b). Applying the currents to the ver-
tical coils causes the vertical actuators to exert attraction forces
on the upper leg, which break the vertical balance of forces
maintained in State 0. These forces move the upper leg down-
ward by an amount 1 δzu (= gs0 ). The lower leg is stationary.
When 1 zu = −1 δzu , i.e., zu = −1 δzu , the upper leg is in an
equilibrium state of Landingu (State 1). In State 1, the relative
positions of the upper and lower legs with respect to the initial
positions are (0, 0, −1 δzu ) and (0, 0, 0), respectively.
For Transition 2 from States 1 to 2 (Attractionl ), the equations
of motion of the mechanism become
ml 2 ẍl + KH 2 xl = 0 (28)
ml 2 z̈l + KV 2 zl = 2 FVl − KV 1 δzu − ml g (29)
where g is the acceleration due to gravity. This transition occurs
by increasing the currents applied to the vertical coils in State
CHOI AND BAEK: PRECISE MAGNETIC WALKING MECHANISM
Fig. 13. Dimensions of components of the prototype designed based on the magnetic walking mechanism. Table III shows dimensions of the magnets and the
coils.
1. Increasing the currents applied to the vertical coils causes
the vertical actuators to exert attraction forces on the lower
leg, which break the vertical balance of forces on the lower
leg maintained in State 1. These forces move the lower leg
upward by an amount 2 δzl . The upper leg is stationary. When
2
zl = 2 δzl , i.e., zl = 2 δzl , the lower leg is in an equilibrium
state of Flightl (State 2). In State 2, the relative positions of
the upper and lower legs with respect to the initial positions are
(0, 0, −1 δzu ) and (0, 0, 2δzl ), respectively.
For Transition 3 from States 2 to 3 (Propulsionl ), the equations
of motion of the mechanism become
ml 3 ẍl + KH 3xl = 3 FHl
ml 3 z̈l + KV 3zl = 0.
This transition occurs by applying a clockwise current to the
horizontal coil in State 2. Applying the current to the horizontal
coil causes the horizontal actuator to exert a thrust force on the
lower leg, which breaks the horizontal balance of forces on the
lower leg maintained in State 2. This force propels the lower leg
forward by the amount 3 δxl . The upper leg is stationary. When
3
xl =3 δxl , i.e., xl =3 δxl , the lower leg is in the equilibrium
state of Thrustl (State 3). In State 3, the relative positions of
the upper and lower legs with respect to the initial positions are
(0, 0, −1 δzu ) and (3 δxl , 0,2 δzl ), respectively.
For Transition 4 from States 3 to 4 (Repulsionl ), the equations
of motion of the mechanism become
ml 4 ẍl + KH 4 xl = 4 FHl − KH 3δxl
4 4
ml z̈l + KV zl = 4
FVl − KV δzl − KV δzu − ml g. (33)
2 1
This transition occurs by decreasing the currents applied to
the vertical coils in State 3. Decreasing the currents applied to
the vertical coils reduces the total z-axis magnetic force on the
lower leg, which breaks the vertical balance of forces on the
lower leg maintained in State 3. This total z-axis magnetic force
reduction causes the gravitational force of the lower leg and
1421
the total z-axis spring force produced by the potential energy
stored in the springs of State 3 to repel the lower leg by the
amount 4 δzl (=2 δzl ) in the negative z-direction. The upper leg
is stationary. When 4 zl = −4 δzl , i.e., zl =2 δzl − 4 δzl = 0,
the lower leg is in the equilibrium state of Landingl (State 4).
As the lower leg moves down, the vertical distance between
the horizontal coil and the magnet increases. With the current
fixed, increasing this vertical distance decreases the total x-axis
magnetic force of the horizontal actuator, as shown in Fig. 6,
which breaks the horizontal balance of forces on the lower leg
maintained in State 3. This total x-axis magnetic force decrease
causes the total x-axis spring force produced by the potential
(30) energy stored in the springs of State 3 to move the lower leg
(31) backward by the amount 4 δxl . Thus, when the lower leg is in
State 4, 4 xl = −4 δxl , i.e., xl =3 δxl −4 δxl . The step length of
the lower leg is (3 δxl −4 δxl ). This step length can be increased
by increasing the current applied to the horizontal coil because
increasing the current applied to the horizontal coil increases the
total x-axis magnetic force of the horizontal actuator, as shown
in Fig. 6. In State 4, the relative positions of the upper and lower
legs with respect to the initial positions are (0, 0, −1 δzu ) and
(3 δxl − 4 δxl , 0, 0), respectively.
For Transition 5 from States 4 to 5 (Repulsionu ), the equations
of motion of the mechanism become
mu 5 ẍu + KH 5 xu = −5 FHu + KH (3 δxl − 4 δxl ) (34)
mu 5 z̈u + KV 5 zu = −5 FVu + KV 1 δzu . (35)
(32) This transition occurs by decreasing the currents applied to
the vertical coils in State 4. Decreasing the currents applied
to the vertical coils reduces the total z-axis magnetic force
on the upper leg, which breaks the vertical balance of forces on
the upper leg maintained in State 4. This total z-axis magnetic
force reduction causes the total z-axis spring force produced
by the potential energy stored in the springs of State 4 to re-
pel the upper leg by the amount 5 δzu (=1 δzu ) in the positive
z-direction. The lower leg is stationary. When 5 zu = 5 δzu , i.e.,
1422 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 30, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2014

zu = −1 δzu + 5 δzu = 0, the upper leg is in the equilibrium

state of Flightu (State 5).
As the upper leg moves up, the vertical distance between the
horizontal coil and the magnet increases. As stated above, with
the current fixed, increasing this vertical distance decreases the
total x-axis magnetic force of the horizontal actuator, which
breaks the horizontal balance of forces on the upper leg that is
maintained in State 4. This decrease in the total x-axis magnetic
force causes the total x-axis spring force produced by the po- Fig. 14. (a) Rendered model of the design. (b) Picture of the prototype walker
built.
tential energy stored in the springs of State 4 to move the upper
leg forward by the amount 5 δxu . Thus, when the upper leg is
in State 5, 5 xu = 5δxu , i.e., xu = 5δxu . In State 5, the relative
positions of the upper and lower legs with respect to the initial
positions are (5 δxu , 0, 0) and (3 δxl − 4δxl , 0, 0), respectively.
For Transition 6 from States 5 to 6 (Propulsionu ), the equa-
tions of motion of the mechanism become

mu 6 ẍu + KH 6 xu = −6 FHu + KH (3 δxl − 4 δxl − 5 δxu )

(36)
mu 6 z̈u + KV 6 zu = 0. (37)

This transition occurs by decreasing the current applied to

the horizontal coil in State 5. Decreasing the current applied to Fig. 15. Experimentally determined total z-axis spring force curve.
the horizontal coil reduces the total x-axis magnetic force on
the upper leg, which breaks the horizontal balance of forces on
the upper leg maintained in State 5. This total x-axis magnetic
force reduction causes the total x-axis spring force produced by
the potential energy stored in the springs of State 5 to propel the
upper leg by the amount 6 δxu in the positive x-direction. The
lower leg is stationary. When 6 xu = 6δxu , i.e., xu = 5δxu +6
δxu , the upper leg is in the equilibrium state of Thrustu (State 6).
The step length of the upper leg is (5 δxu + 6δxu ). In State 6, the
relative positions of the upper and lower legs with respect to the
initial positions are (5 δxu + 6δxu , 0, 0) and (3 δxl − 4δxl , 0, 0),
respectively.
State 6 indicates the return of the mechanism to State 0 after
Fig. 16. Experimentally determined total x-axis spring force curve.
having moved one step forward, and the procedure is completed.
This corresponds to one cycle of walking motion. As this cycle
is repeated, the mechanism walks forward. Applying a coun-
terclockwise current to the horizontal coil allows it to walk The two rigid legs were connected and guided by four leaf
backward. springs made of polyvinyl chloride film bent into the shape of a
semicircle. The upper leg was suspended by C-shaped springs,
and the lower leg was supported and guided by an aluminum
VII. PROTOTYPE
base plate. The elastic connection between the two legs helped
To demonstrate that the proposed mechanism is possible, to stabilize their motions in open-loop control. The stiffer the
we built a magnetically driven bipedal walker based on the springs, the greater the stability. Experimental total z-axis spring
mechanism. Dimensions of the components of the prototype are force results are presented in Fig. 15. The linear fitted line had
shown in Fig. 13. A rendered model of the design and a picture a slope of 208 N·m−1 . Total x-axis spring force experimental
of the prototype are provided in Fig. 14. results are shown in Fig. 16. The linear fitted line had a slope of
The walker had two rigid legs. The upper leg comprised an up- 61 N·m−1 .
per plate of aluminum to which three neodymium–iron–boron
permanent magnets and four stainless-steel supports were at- VIII. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND TEST RESULTS
tached. The mass of this upper leg was 0.054 kg. The lower leg
comprised a lower plate of aluminum to which three air-core A. Experimental Setup
solenoids of copper wire were attached. Mass of the lower leg A photograph of the experimental setup used for this study is
was 0.116 kg. The lower leg contained four holes for the four shown in Fig. 17. It consisted of the biped shown in Fig. 14(b), a
supports through which to move. laser displacement sensor (LK-H025 and LK-G5000, Keyence),
CHOI AND BAEK: PRECISE MAGNETIC WALKING MECHANISM
Fig. 17. Experimental setup.
Fig. 18. Control block diagram of the biped.
three nonprogrammable dc power supplies (HY3005D, Mas-
tech), a personal computer (Lenovo), and an optical table (New-
port). The sensor, which operates based on the principle of
optical triangulation, was used to measure the horizontal po-
sition of the upper leg of the biped: An aluminum block was
placed on and fixed to the optical table with bolts, and a sen-
sor head (LK-H025) was mounted on the block with bolts and
nuts. Information about the horizontal position of the upper leg
collected by the sensor was stored on the computer. The power
supplies applied currents to the coils of the biped. Magnitudes
of the currents applied to the coils were adjusted by turning
rotary knobs of the power supplies by hand, and the directions
of currents applied to the coils were changed by switching the
two leads of the power supplies. The biped was placed on an
optical table for external vibration isolation.
A control block diagram of the biped is shown in Fig. 18. The
biped, or manually operated legged precision motion machine,
was operated in open-loop control.
B. Fine Motion Experiments
We performed two experiments to determine the relationship
between displacement of the upper leg and the current applied
to the horizontal coil to evaluate the fine motion capability of
the biped in terms of range and repeatability.
We conducted the first experiment to show that it was pos-
sible for the biped to achieve micromotion. Micromotion of
the upper leg was achieved (see Figs. 19 and 20). Fig. 19 shows
the experimentally determined relationship between current and
microdisplacement. Measurement of the microdisplacement of
the upper leg as a function of the current applied to the coil pro-
1423
Fig. 19. Experimentally determined relationship between the current applied
to the horizontal coil and the microdisplacement of the upper leg.
Fig. 20. Response of the upper leg to a 0.43-A step input.
duced a line. For displacements less than 600 μm and currents
less than 0.5 A, the current applied to the coil was proportional
to the microdisplacement of the upper leg. The upper leg had a
long range of 500 μm (see Fig. 20). This indicated that the biped
could achieve long-range motion without walking. The speed
of fine motion was about 10 mm·s−1 . The biped’s response to
the step input revealed that its open-loop performance was char-
acterized by a large overshoot in step response. The response
of the upper leg to the 0.43-A step input is similar to the re-
sponse of an underdamped second-order system to a step input.
The damping ratio of an underdamped second-order system can
be determined from the response of the system to a step input
[21], [22]; based on the experimental plot, we calculated that
the damping ratio was 0.87.
We conducted the second experiment to show that it was
possible for the biped to achieve nanomotion. Nanomotion of
the upper leg was achieved (see Figs. 21 and 22). Fig. 21 shows
the experimentally determined relationship between current and
nanodisplacement. Measurement of the nanodisplacement of the
upper leg as a function of the current applied to the coil produced
a line. For displacements less than 1 μm and currents less than
2.5 mA, the current applied to the coil was proportional to the
nanodisplacement of the upper leg. The upper leg was capable
of producing a 378-nm displacement, as shown in Fig. 22. In this
experiment, a ramp current, instead of a step current, was applied
to the coil, which resulted in smoother motion. This nanomotion
experiment was repeated 50 times to test the repeatability of
the biped’s fine motion. Repeatability test results are shown in
Fig. 23. Although no quantitative estimate of the influence of
1424
Fig. 21. Experimentally determined relationship between the current applied
to the horizontal coil and the nanodisplacement of the upper leg.
Fig. 22. Response of the upper leg to a 0.6-mA ramp input.
Fig. 23. Repeatability tests for nanopositioning of the upper leg position for
repeated trials of a 0.6-mA ramp current. The mean (m) equals 365 nm. The
standard deviation (σ) equals 74.75 nm.
environmental disturbances such as vibration and acoustic noise
was made, the experimental data shown in Fig. 23 indicated that
the effect of environmental disturbances on the biped was small,
as the biped was able to achieve nanopositioning. As can be
observed from Fig. 23, the repeatability was within ±250 nm.
The resolution of the biped’s fine motion was better than 400 nm
(see Fig. 23): The resolution of the fine motion depended on how
finely we turned the rotary knobs of the power supplies by hand.
To summarize, our prototype is sensitive to disturbances, but
requires no complex control mechanism and is cost-effective
because it is open-loop controlled and manually operated.
The above experimental results on fine motion demonstrated
that our mechanism is suitable for creating a biped capable of
long-range fine motion.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, VOL. 30, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2014
Fig. 24. Experimentally determined relationship between the current applied
to the horizontal coil and the step length of the upper leg of the walking biped.
Fig. 25. Step length of the upper leg of the biped after one step. When a 2.2-A
ramp current was applied to the horizontal coil, the step length of the upper leg
was 374 μm.
C. Walking Motion Experiments
We next performed walking motion experiments to evaluate
the walking capability of the biped in terms of step length and
repeatability of step length.
The first experiment was conducted to show that it was pos-
sible for the biped to walk with long steps. Long-step walking
was achieved, as shown in Figs. 24–26.
Fig. 24 shows the experimentally determined relationship be-
tween the current applied to the horizontal coil and the step
length of the upper leg of the walking biped. Measurement of
the step length of the upper leg as a function of the current
applied to the coil produced a line. For step lengths less than
400 μm and currents less than 2.2 A, the current applied to the
coil was proportional to the step length of the upper leg of the
walking biped. It is clear from Fig. 24 that a high current of
1 A or more was required to achieve long-step walking. The
main reason for this is that the leads of the power supplies,
which were connected to the coils attached to the lower leg of
the biped, behaved like springs. The influence of these leads
could not be avoided because the prototype was tethered, but no
embedded batteries or processors were required.
Fig. 25 shows that the step length of the upper leg of the
walking biped was 374 μm. This indicates that the biped could
achieve long-step walking. The displacement of 374 μm was
achieved when a ramp current of 2.2 A was applied to the
horizontal coil. It would be ideal if the upper leg moved only
downward when currents were applied to the vertical coils. In
practice, the upper leg tended to not only move downward but
CHOI AND BAEK: PRECISE MAGNETIC WALKING MECHANISM 1425

Fig. 26. Step lengths that the upper leg of the biped which took two steps Fig. 27. Repeatability tests for long-step walking of the biped. A 1.8-A ramp
had. When a 1.8-A ramp current was applied to the horizontal coil, the first step current was applied to the horizontal coil for each trial. The mean (m) equals
length of the upper leg was 327 μm, and the second step length of the upper leg 310 μm. The standard deviation (σ) equals 22.62 μm.
was 310 μm.

dynamics of the mechanism. We built a bipedal walker based on

backward as well when currents were applied to the vertical
the mechanism and performed a series of experiments to charac-
coils. The backward movement of the upper leg that we observed
terize its motion. Our results demonstrated that it is possible to
was likely due to the fact that the upper leg tended to move
use our mechanism to build a nanobiped, namely, a two-legged
diagonally when currents were applied to the vertical coils,
machine with nanomotion and walking capabilities.
and there was misalignment between the magnet and the coil
Our work indicates the feasibility of creating legged machines
of the vertical actuator, resulting in generation of an inclined
with fewer legs than predecessors that are capable of nanoscale
force. Fig. 25 shows that backward movement of the upper
motion. Our mechanism allows realization of a legged robot
leg occurred; nonetheless, the biped was capable of taking a
with precision positioning capability whose legs share actuators
long step forward when a clockwise current was applied to
and who walks by attraction and repulsion of two elastically
the horizontal coil, as depicted in Fig. 2(b), after backward
connected rigid legs. Our mechanism represents one possible so-
movement of the upper leg. A walking speed of about 12 μm·s−1
lution to the problem of how to build a legged precision machine
was achieved when a ramp current of 2.2 A was applied to the
capable of long-range nanopositioning and long-step walking.
horizontal coil. The speed of walking depended on how fast we
Our ongoing work is focused on introducing feedback. This
turned the rotary knobs of the power supplies by hand.
effort includes modification of the experimental setup used in
Step lengths of the upper leg when the biped took two steps
this study, such as by replacing the nonprogrammable power
are shown in Fig. 26. In this trial, a 1.8-A ramp current was
supplies used for manual control herein with programmable
applied to the horizontal coil. The first step length was 327 μm,
power amplifiers suitable for automatic control and by adding
and the second step length was 310 μm. These results indicated
more sensors. An obvious way to improve an open-loop control
that the biped was capable of continuous walking with long
system that is highly sensitive to disturbances and to parameter
steps of similar lengths.
variations is to introduce feedback, although this does have the
We conducted a second experiment to assess the repeatability
disadvantage of increasing cost and system complexity [21],
of long-step walking of the biped in terms of step length. In this
[22]. Nevertheless, we anticipate that introducing feedback will
experiment, when the biped took one step, the achieved step
improve the control system of the nanobiped. Furthermore, we
length was measured. More specifically, when a 1.8-A ramp
anticipate that this modified experimental setup will increase
current, which was randomly selected, was applied to the hori-
the speed of walking and improve the repeatability of the step
zontal coil, the length of one step of the upper leg of the biped
length and will enable us to perform walking motion experi-
was measured. This experiment was repeated 50 times, showing
ments to evaluate the walking capability of the biped in terms
that the repeatability of the step length was within ±50 μm (see
of range, without the burden of turning the rotary knobs of the
Fig. 27). The repeatability of the step length depended on how
nonprogrammable power supplies finely or quickly by hand.
finely we turned the rotary knobs of the power supplies by hand.
This will allow us to experimentally verify the dynamic model
Overall, our experimental results demonstrated that our mech-
of the biped and to experimentally characterize the effect of a
anism is suitable for creating a biped capable of both long-range
magnetic torque due to the interaction of a permanent magnet
fine motion and long-step walking motion.
and a current-carrying coil on the motion of the biped or the
effect of certain parameters on the performance of the biped.
IX. CONCLUSION In an attempt to advance the development of spatial
We have proposed a novel magnetic actuation mechanism, nanobipeds, in future work, we intend to extend the proposed
i.e., a magnetic walking mechanism. We briefly compared our mechanism to enable the biped to move in 3-D space. Its fu-
legged precision mechanism with existing mechanisms. We dis- ture applications may include mobile positioners for controlling
cussed the underlying principles of force generation, shared leg the position of a submillimeter-sized object with micrometer or
actuation, fine motion, and walking motion and described the nanometer resolution. In addition, there would be several appli-
dynamics of each rigid leg of the mechanism and the walking cations for specialized nanobiped tools with arbitrarily shaped
1426
needles attached to their moving parts: mobile manipulators for
handling nanosized and microsized objects such as graphene
flakes and biological cells; mobile separators for separating ob-
jects that attract each other and whose sizes are up to hundreds
of micrometers; and mobile graspers for grasping objects with
sizes of up to hundreds of micrometers.
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Jung Soo Choi received the B.S. degree in me-
chanical engineering from Yeungnam University,
Gyeongsan, Korea, in 2000 and the M.S. degree
in mechanical engineering from Yonsei University,
Seoul, Korea, in 2002. He is currently working toward
the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering with
Yonsei University, Seoul.
His research interests include friction-free posi-
tioners and conveyors based on the principle of mag-
netic levitation and nanoprecision biped robots.
Yoon Su Baek received the B.S. and M.S. degrees
in mechanical engineering from Yonsei University,
Seoul, Korea, in 1979 and 1981, respectively, and the
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering
from Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA,
in 1986 and 1990.
From 1990 to 1993, he was the Head Research En-
gineer with the Mechatronics Research Center, Sam-
sung Heavy Industry Ltd. Since 1994, he has been a
Faculty Member with the School of Mechanical En-
gineering, Yonsei University. His research interests
include multidegree-of-freedom actuators and robotics, especially relating to
fine motion control. He is also interested in data storage devices such as optic
disk drives, laser application devices such as bar code readers, and motorized
exoskeletons for the elderly or paralyzed.