A single magnetic nanocomposite cilia force sensor

Abstract

The advancements in fields like robotics and medicine continuously require improvements of sensor devices and more engagement of cooperative sensing technologies. For example, instruments such as tweezers with sensitive force sensory heads could provide the ability to sense a variety of physical quantities in real time, such as the amount and direction of the force applied or the texture of the gripped object. Force sensors with such abilities could be great solutions toward the development of smart surgical tools. In this work, a unique force sensor that can be integrated at the tips of robotic arms or surgical tools is reported. The force sensor consists of a single bioinspired, permanent magnetic and highly elastic nanocomposite cilia integrated on a magnetic field sensing element. The nanocomposite is prepared from permanent magnetic nanowires incorporated into the highly elastic polydimethylsiloxane. We demonstrate the potential of this concept by performing several experiments to show the performance of the force sensor. The developed sensor element has a 200 µm in diameter single cilium with 1:5 aspect ratio and shows a detection range up to 1 mN with a sensitivity of 1.6 Ω/mN and a resolution of 31 µN. The simple fabrication process of the sensor allows easy optimization of the sensor performance to meet the needs of different applications.

Bioinspired Ciliary Force Sensor for Robotic Platforms

“…6b. The simulated diameters agree with the ones measured, and the magnetic moment obtained from the fit are within the same order of magnitude reported in previously fabricated ciliary sensors (≈1 memu) [18].…”

“…By microfabricating the elastic cilia, this limitation can be overcome, as shown recently in a sensor used to detect flow speeds in microfluidics setups [17], and as a proof of concept in detecting force [18].…”

Recent Progress of Biomimetic Tactile Sensing Technology Based on Magnetic Sensors

“…Permanent magnetic particles can avoid this problem. The diameter of permanent magnetic particles can be as low as several microns or even several tens of nanometers [ 60 , 61 ]. As long as the volume ratio of flexible body and magnetic particles is well-controlled, the flexibility and magnetism of the sensitive structure can be well-combined.…”

Microfluidic Applications of Artificial Cilia: Recent Progress, Demonstration, and Future Perspectives

“…Several types of research have been conducted towards the design development of artificial cilia sensors [ 48 , 142 , 143 , 144 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 148 , 149 , 150 , 151 , 152 ]. The artificial cilia sensors were designed to be used in the marine system’s sensors [ 153 , 154 ], flow sensors [ 48 , 155 , 156 ], force sensors [ 150 ], and tactile and texture sensors. The hydrophone is the ideal example of artificial cilia-based sensors designed and fabricated to use in marine system sensors.…”