Monitoring of aquatic life is important for assessing long-term impacts on activities associated with fish stock and migration. One promising approach for long-term monitoring involves the development of self-powered telemetry devices capable of powering themselves by harnessing energy from the fish body undulations using implanted devices or from fluid motions generated by fish swimming using external devices. One of the latter devices is a broadband low frequency nonlinear bistable energy harvester. This cost-effective harvester has been inspired from the doubly curved leaf blades of a Venus-fly trap. This work ex- amines the static behavior of such a bio-inspired bistable energy harvester by analyzing its force-displacement characteristics. The objective is to identify crucial design parameters to optimize the harvester's performance for potential application in self-powered fish telemetry tags. The unique characteristics of the hysteresis loop and snap-through discontinuity of the bistable structure are investigated using experimentation and finite element analysis. The finite element model is found to qualitatively replicate experimental observations. Addition- ally, geometrical and assembly parameters that affect the force-displacement behavior of the harvester are identified. A sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the effect of the aspect ratio, buckling displacement and thickness of the proposed harvester on the static force-displacement curve. The sensitivity analysis has highlighted that the assembly and geometric parameters of the bistable structure affect multiple aspects of the force-displacement behavior simultaneously. Hence, analytical modeling has been attempted using the theory of lateral torsional buckling to further investigate the complex influence of the said parameters. / Master of Science / With the ongoing pursuit to enhance quality of life and accommodate the needs of a growing population, water resources are increasingly being used for various economic activities such as energy production, fish farming, and transportation, among others. Fish telemetry serves as a valuable tool to understand the long-term ecological impacts of such economic activities to ensure their sustainable growth. Taking inspiration from the leaf blades of the Venus flytrap an innovative, cost-effective nonlinear system with the potential to be integrated into telemetry tags is developed. This unique system scavenges energy from the ambient environment to power telemetry tags thus making telemetry tags self sustaining and removing the reliance on batteries. This study delves into the behavior of this proposed system, aiming to optimize its performance for potential use in self-powered fish telemetry tags. Through a comprehensive approach involving experimentation, numerical simulations, and analytical modeling, key design parameters influencing the efficiency of the energy harvester are identified. The findings highlight how assembly and geometric factors impact the performance of the system. This research offers insights that could lead to significant advancements in aquatic life monitoring technology, facilitating more effective and sustainable management of water resources.

Le développement récent en micro- et nanotechnologies (dans des domaines tels que l’horlogerie,l’électronique, l’optique, le biomédical, . . .) a créé un fort besoin concernant des systèmes capables de manipuler et d’assembler des objets de plus en plus petits. La conception de stations robotisées, capables de manipuler des micro-objets, s’est multipliée à travers le monde, faisant intervenir des actionneurs de haute résolution adaptés au micro monde, ainsi que de nombreux capteurs.Ce mémoire ouvre une nouvelle voie pour le développement de robots de micromanipulation. Il présente la conception, la modélisation, la fabrication et la commande d’un nouveau concept de micro robot, le DiMiBot (Digital MicroroBot). Il s’agit du premier micro robot numérique – inspiré ´e de l’ ´électronique numérique – qui fait intervenir des actionneurs binaires pour générer un déplacement discret d’une grande précision sans nécessiter de capteur (en boucle ouverte). Ces actionneurs binaires extrêmement répétables et robustes (les modules bistables), assurent chacun un déplacement précis de 25 μm. Ils sont associés de manière monolithique à une architecture robotique parallèle flexible, assurant la génération d’un espace de travail discret, dont les 2N (N est le nombre de modules bistables utilisés au sein du DiMiBot) positions distincts atteignables sont parfaitement stables, répétables et robustes mécaniquement. Elles sont réparties de manière homogène dans un carré de 10,5 μm de côté La micro fabrication du premier prototype de micro robot numérique en silicium – faisant suite `a un dimensionnement minutieux en élément finis – a été réalisé au sein de la salle blanche MIMENTO de l’institut FEMTO-ST. Ce DiMiBot possédant 4 modules bistables assure une résolution de 3,5 μm pour une répétable de chacune des 16 positions atteignables de 90 nm. / With the current expansion of micro- and nano-technologies (in such domains as watchmaking, electronics,optics, biomedical, . . .), came the necessity to build systems able to manipulate and make the assembly ofsmaller and smaller objects. Design of robotic stations, able to manipulate micro-objects, expanded all over theworld, making use of high resolution actuators and numerous sensors adapted to the microworld.This thesis opens a new paradigm in the design of micromanipulation robotics. We present the design, modeling,fabrication and control of a new microrobot, the DiMiBot (Digital MicroroBot). It is the first digital microrobot— inspired from digital electronics — which makes use of binary actuators for the generation of discretedisplacements with high accuracy without any sensors (open-loop control). These highly repeatable and robustbinary actuators (bistable modules) generate an accurate displacement of 25 μm. They are monolithicallyconbined with a parallel flexible architecture, allowing the generation of a discrete workspace, in which all the2N (N is the number of bistable modules used) distinct reachable positions are perfectly stable, repeatable andmechanically robust. They are evenly spread inside a 10.5 μm length square.After dimensioning, the first digital microrobot prototype in silicon was microfabricated in MIMENTO clean-roomof FEMTO-ST institute. This DiMiBot has 4 bistable modules and generates a workspace of 3.5 μm resolutionwith 90 nm repeatability