Magnetic microrobots and nanorobots can be remotely controlled to propel in complex biological fluids with high precision by using magnetic fields. Their potential for controlled navigation in hard-to-reach cavities of the human body makes them promising miniaturized robotic tools to diagnose and treat diseases in a minimally invasive manner. However, critical issues, such as motion tracking, biocompatibility, biodegradation, and diagnostic/ therapeutic effects, need to be resolved to allow preclinical in vivo development and clinical trials. We report biohybrid magnetic robots endowed with multifunctional capabilities by integrating desired structural and functional attributes from a biological matrix and an engineered coating. Helical microswimmers were fabricated from Spirulina microalgae via a facile dip-coating process in magnetite (Fe 3 O 4) suspensions, superparamagnetic, and equipped with robust navigation capability in various biofluids. The innate properties of the microalgae allowed in vivo fluorescence imaging and remote diagnostic sensing without the need for any surface modification. Furthermore, in vivo magnetic resonance imaging tracked a swarm of microswimmers inside rodent stomachs, a deep organ where fluorescence-based imaging ceased to work because of its penetration limitation. Meanwhile, the microswimmers were able to degrade and exhibited selective cytotoxicity to cancer cell lines, subject to the thickness of the Fe 3 O 4 coating, which could be tailored via the dip-coating process. The biohybrid microrobots reported herein represent a microrobotic platform that could be further developed for in vivo imaging-guided therapy and a proof of concept for the engineering of multifunctional microrobotic and nanorobotic devices.
Various types of structures self-organised by animals exist in nature, such as bird flocks and insect swarms, which stem from the local communications of vast numbers of limited individuals. Through the designing of algorithms and wireless communication, robotic systems can emulate some complex swarm structures in nature. However, creating a swarming robotic system at the microscale that embodies functional collective behaviours remains a challenge. Herein, we report a strategy to reconfigure paramagnetic nanoparticles into ribbon-like swarms using oscillating magnetic fields, and the mechanisms are analysed. By tuning the input fields, the microswarm can perform a reversible elongation with an extremely high aspect ratio, as well as splitting and merging. Moreover, we investigate the behaviours of the microswarm when it encounters solid boundaries, and demonstrate that under navigation, the colloidal microswarm passes through confined channel networks towards multiple targets with high access rates and high swarming pattern stability.
In nature, various types of animals will form self-organised large-scale structures. Through designing wireless actuation methods, microrobots can emulate natural swarm behaviours, which have drawn extensive attention due to their great potential in biomedical applications. However, as the prerequisite for their in-vivo applications, whether microrobotic swarms can take effect in bio-fluids with complex components has yet to be fully investigated. In this work, we first categorise magnetic active swarms into three types, and individually investigate the generation and navigation behaviours of two types of the swarms in bio-fluids. The influences of viscosities, ionic strengths and mesh-like structures are studied. A strategy is then proposed to select the optimised swarms in different fluidic environments based on their physical properties, and the results are further validated in various bio-fluids. Moreover, we also realise the swarm generation and navigation in bovine eyeballs, which also validates the proposed prediction in the ex-vivo environment.
Bacteria‐inspired magnetic helical micro‐/nanoswimmers can be actuated and steered in a fuel‐free manner using a low‐strength rotating magnetic field, generating remotely controlled 3D locomotion with high precision in a variety of biofluidic environments. They are therefore envisioned for biomedical applications related to targeted diagnosis and therapy. In this article, a porous hollow microswimmer possessing an outer shell aggregated by mesoporous spindle‐like magnetite nanoparticles (NPs) and a helical‐shaped inner cavity is proposed. The fabrication is straightforward via a cost‐effective mass‐production process of biotemplated synthesis using helical microorganisms. Here, Spirulina‐based fabrication is demonstrated as an example. The fabricated microswimmers are superparamagnetic and exhibit low cytotoxicity. They are also capable of performing structural disassembly to form individual NPs using ultrasound when needed. For the first time in the literature of helical microswimmers, a porous hollow architecture is successfully constructed, achieving an ultrahigh specific surface area for surface functionalization and enabling diffusion‐based cargo loading/release. Furthermore, experimental and analytical results indicate better swimming performance of the microswimmers than the existing non‐hollow helical micromachines of comparable sizes and dimensions. These characteristics of the as‐proposed microswimmers suggest a novel microrobotic tool with high loading capacity for targeted delivery of therapeutic/imaging agents in vitro and in vivo.
Controlling a swarm of microrobots with external fields is one of the major challenges for untethered microrobots. In this work, we present a new method to generate a vortex-like paramagnetic nanoparticle swarm (VPNS) from dispersed nanoparticles with a diameter of 500 nm, using rotating magnetic fields. The VPNS exhibits a dynamic-equilibrium structure, in which the nanoparticles perform synchronized motions. The mechanisms of the pattern-generation process are analyzed, simulated, and validated by experiments. By tuning the rotating frequency of the input magnetic field, the pattern of a VPNS changes accordingly. Analytical models for estimating the areal change of the pattern are proposed, and they have good agreement with the experimental data. Moreover, reversible merging and splitting of vortex-like swarms are demonstrated and investigated. Serving as a mobile robotic end-effector, a VPNS is capable of making locomotion by tuning the pitch angle of the actuating rotating field. With a small pitch angle, e.g. 2 • , the whole swarm moves as an entity, and the shape of the pattern remains intact. In addition, the trapping forces of VPNSs are verified, showing the critical input parameters of the magnetic field that affect the morphology of the swarm. Finally, we demonstrate that VPNSs pass through curved and branched channels with high positioning precision, and the access rates for targeted delivery are over 90%, which are significantly higher than those in the cases of particle swarms moving with tumbling motions.
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