Publications by Grégory Mermoud

Fluid-Mediated Stochastic Self-Assembly at Centimetric and Sub-Millimetric Scales: Design, Modeling, and Control

Alcherio Martinoli, Grégory Mermoud, Massimo Mastrangeli, Felix Stephan Schill, Bahar Haghighat

Stochastic self-assembly provides promising means for building micro-/nano-structures with a variety of properties and functionalities. Numerous studies have been conducted on the control and modeling of the process in engineered self-assembling systems co ...

2016

Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Model-Based Methodologies for Distributed Control: A Comparative Experimental Study

Alcherio Martinoli, Grégory Mermoud, William Christopher Evans, Utkarsh Upadhyay

Model-based synthesis of distributed controllers for multi-robot systems is commonly approached in either a top-down or bottom-up fashion. In this paper, we investigate the experimental challenges of both approaches, with a special emphasis on resource-con ...

Springer-Verlag2014

Fluid-mediated parallel self-assembly of polymeric micro-capsules for liquid encapsulation and release

Alcherio Martinoli, Jürgen Brugger, Grégory Mermoud, Loïc Jacot-Descombes, Luis Guillermo Villanueva Torrijo, Cristina Martin Olmos, Victor Javier Cadarso Busto, Rosario Maurizio Gullo, Massimo Mastrangeli

Fluid-mediated self-assembly is one of the most promising routes for assembling and packaging smart microsystems in a scalable and cost-efficient way. In this work the pairwise fluidic self-assembly of 100 μm-sized SU-8 cylinders is studied with respect to ...

2013

Acousto-fluidic system assisting in-liquid self-assembly of microcomponents

Alcherio Martinoli, Jürgen Brugger, Grégory Mermoud, Loïc Jacot-Descombes, Rosario Maurizio Gullo, Massimo Mastrangeli, Helmut Knapp

In this paper, we present the theoretical background, design, fabrication and characterization of a micromachined chamber assisting the fluidic self-assembly of micro-electro-mechanical systems in a bulk liquid. Exploiting bubble-induced acoustic microstre ...

2013

Design, Modeling and Optimization of Stochastic Reactive Distributed Robotic Systems

Grégory Mermoud

This dissertation describes a complete methodological framework for designing, modeling and optimizing a specific class of distributed systems whose dynamics result from the multiple, stochastic interactions of their constitutive components. These componen ...

EPFL2012

Real-Time Automated Modeling and Control of Self-Assembling Systems

Alcherio Martinoli, Grégory Mermoud, Utkarsh Upadhyay, Massimo Mastrangeli

We present the M3 framework, a formal and generic computational framework for modeling and controlling distributed stochastic systems of purely reactive robots in an automated and real-time fashion. Based on the trajectories of the robots, the framework bu ...

Ieee2012

Containers assembled in fluid and corresponding production

Alcherio Martinoli, Jürgen Brugger, Grégory Mermoud, Cristina Martin Olmos

A method for fabricating a fluid container, wherein at least two half containers are mated in said fluid to be contained in said container. This method allows the incorporation of prefabricated devices into each half containers as well as the functional co ...

2011

A Trajectory-based Calibration Method for Stochastic Motion Models

Alcherio Martinoli, Grégory Mermoud, Ezequiel Leonardo Di Mario, Massimo Mastrangeli

In this paper, we present a quantitative, trajectory-based method for calibrating stochastic motion models of water-floating robots. Our calibration method is based on the Correlated Random Walk (CRW) model, and consists in minimizing the Kolmogorov-Smirno ...

Ieee Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, Po Box 1331, Piscataway, Nj 08855-1331 Usa2011

Modeling Self-Assembly Across Scales: The Unifying Perspective of Smart Minimal Particles

Alcherio Martinoli, Grégory Mermoud, Massimo Mastrangeli

A wealth of current research in microengineering aims at fabricating devices of increasing complexity, notably by (self-)assembling elementary components into heterogeneous functional systems. At the same time, a large body of robotic research called swarm ...

2011

Comparing and modeling distributed control strategies for miniature self-assembling robots

Alcherio Martinoli, Grégory Mermoud, William Christopher Evans

We propose two contrasting approaches to the scalable distributed control of a swarm of self-assembling miniaturized robots, specifically the formation of chains of a desired length: (1) a deterministic controller in which robots communicate with each othe ...

IEEE2010

Aggregation-mediated Collective Perception and Action in a Group of Miniature Robots

Alcherio Martinoli, Grégory Mermoud, William Christopher Evans

We introduce a novel case study in which a group of miniaturized robots screen an environment for undesirable cells, and destroy them. Because miniaturized robots are usually endowed with reactive controllers and minimalist sensing and actuation capabiliti ...

2010

Drop-On-Demand Inkjet Printing of SU-8 Polymer

Alcherio Martinoli, Vahid Fakhfouri, Jürgen Brugger, Grégory Mermoud, Joo Yeon Kim

This paper presents drop-on-demand inkjet printing of SU-8 on functionalized surfaces for direct printing of computer controlled polymer patterns. The high viscosity of SU-8 required an in-depth investigation of the print parameters such as pulse amplitude ...

2009

Towards Multi-Level Modeling of Self-Assembling Intelligent Micro-Systems

Alcherio Martinoli, Jürgen Brugger, Grégory Mermoud

We investigate and model the dynamics of two-dimensional stochastic self-assembly of intelligent micro-systems with minimal requirements in terms of sensing, actuation, and control. A microscopic agent-based model accounts for spatiality and serves as a ba ...

IFAAMAS2009

Inkjet Printing of SU-8; A Case Study for Microlenses

Alcherio Martinoli, Vahid Fakhfouri, Dmitri Boiko, Jürgen Brugger, Edoardo Charbon, Grégory Mermoud, Nicolas Cantale, Joo Yeon Kim

This paper describes a novel method to fabricate polymer MEMS based on the inkjet printing of SU-8, with a special emphasis on integrated micro-optical lens arrays. Inkjet control parameters are optimized in order to enable a stable and reproducible ejecti ...

2008

Inkjet printing of SU-8 for polymer-based MEMS a case study for microlenses

Vahid Fakhfouri, Jürgen Brugger, Edoardo Charbon, Grégory Mermoud, Joo Yeon Kim

This paper describes a novel method to fabricate polymer MEMS based on the inkjet printing of SU-8, with a special emphasis on integrated micro-optical lens arrays. Inkjet control parameters are optimized in order to enable a stable and reproducible ejecti ...

IEEE2008

Towards Smart Substrates for Controlling Micrometric Droplet Motion

Alcherio Martinoli, Vahid Fakhfouri, Jürgen Brugger, Grégory Mermoud

In this contribution, we describe a novel approach to the problem of setting micrometric droplets in motion. First, this paper reviews the state-of-the-art methods to enable millimetric droplet motion, and investigates the scalability of the most promising ...

2007