An Integrated Microrobotic Platform for On‐Demand, Targeted Therapeutic Interventions

Fusco, Stefano; Sakar, Mahmut Selman; Kennedy, Stephen; Peters, Christian; Bottani, Rocco; Starsich, Fabian H. L.; Mao, Angelo S.; Sotiriou, Georgios A.; Pané, Salvador; Pratsinis, Sotiris E.; Mooney, David J.; Nelson, Bradley J.

doi:10.1002/adma.201304098

Cited by 287 publications

(282 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…We utilize similarly designed grippers to realize closed-loop control and obtain levels of precision and reliability that are not achievable in open-loop. Closed-loop control of hydrogel grippers have also been reported by Fusco et al [14], [15]. The main differences between [14], [15] and our study are: a) The previously reported grippers in [14], [15] were not magnetic themselves and so magnetic motion control was only possible when they gripped onto a magnetic object.…”

Section: A Related Workcontrasting

confidence: 46%

“…Closed-loop control of hydrogel grippers have also been reported by Fusco et al [14], [15]. The main differences between [14], [15] and our study are: a) The previously reported grippers in [14], [15] were not magnetic themselves and so magnetic motion control was only possible when they gripped onto a magnetic object. (b) Previously near-IR radiation was used to heat the grippers whereas here we use a Peltier element, and (c) the numerical results and analysis of the closed-loop motion control and pickand-place tasks were not reported so the accuracy and of previously reported tasks remains unclear.…”

Section: A Related Workcontrasting

confidence: 45%

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Control of untethered soft grippers for pick-and-place tasks

Ongaro

Yoon

Brink

et al. 2016

2016 6th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)

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Abstract-In order to handle complex tasks in hard-toreach environments, small-scale robots have to possess suitable dexterous and untethered control capabilities. The fabrication and manipulation of soft small-scale grippers complying to these requirements is now made possible by advances in material science and robotics. In this paper, we use soft small-scale grippers to demonstrate pick-and-place tasks. The precise remote control is obtained by altering both the magnetic field gradient and the temperature in the workspace. This allows us to regulate the position and grasping configuration of the soft thermally-responsive hydrogel-nanoparticle composite magnetic grippers. The magnetic closed-loop control achieves precise localization with an average region-of-convergence of the gripper of 0.12±0.05 mm. The micro-sized payload can be placed with a positioning error of 0.57±0.33 mm. The soft grippers move with an average velocity of 0.72±0.13 mm/s without a micro-sized payload, and at 1.09±0.07 mm/s with a micro-sized payload.

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Section: A Related Workcontrasting

confidence: 46%

Section: A Related Workcontrasting

confidence: 45%

Control of untethered soft grippers for pick-and-place tasks

Ongaro

Yoon

Brink

et al. 2016

2016 6th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the microscale, soft active materials have enriched microrobots with additional functionalities, e.g. ondemand drug release 30,31 , and LCEs have recently actuated a walking microrobot 32 .Nevertheless, despite their soft bodies these microrobots have each a unique function, predefined by its form, and few DOFs.Here we present the use of structured light to power and control intra-body shape changes in microrobots. The technique enables fully-artificial, self-propelled microswimmers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Structured light enables biomimetic swimming and versatile locomotion of photoresponsive soft microrobots

et al. 2016

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Microorganisms move in challenging environments by periodic changes in body shape. By contrast, current artificial microrobots cannot actively deform, exhibiting at best passive bending under external fields. Here, by taking advantage of the wireless, scalable and spatiotemporally selective capabilities that light allows, we show that soft microrobots consisting of photoactive liquid-crystal elastomers can be driven by structured monochromatic light to perform sophisticated biomimetic motions. We realized continuum yet selectively addressable artificial microswimmers that generate travelling-wave motions to self-propel without external forces or torques, as well as microrobots capable of versatile locomotion behaviours on demand. Both theoretical predictions and experimental results confirm that multiple gaits, mimicking either symplectic or antiplectic metachrony of ciliate protozoa, can be achieved with single microrobots. The principle of using structured light can be extended to other applications that require microscale actuation with sophisticated spatiotemporal coordination for advanced microrobotic technologies. 3Mobile micro-scale robots are envisioned to navigate within the human body to perform minimally invasive diagnostic or therapeutic tasks 1,2 . Biological microorganisms represent the natural inspiration for this vision. For instance, microorganisms successfully swim and move through a variety of fluids and tissues.Locomotion in this regime, where viscous forces dominate over inertia (low Reynolds number), is only possible through non-reciprocal motions demanding spatiotemporal coordination of multiple actuators 3 . A variety of biological propulsion mechanisms at different scales, from the peristalsis of annelids (Fig. 1a) to the metachrony of ciliates (Fig. 1b), are based on the common principle of travelling waves (Fig. 1c). These emerge from the distributed and self-coordinated action of many independent molecular motors 4,5 .Implementing travelling wave propulsion in an artificial device would require many discrete actuators, each individually addressed and powered in a coordinated fashion (Fig. 1d). The integration of actuators into microrobots that are mobile poses additional hurdles, since power and control need to be distributed without affecting the microrobots' mobility. Existing microscale actuators generally rely on applying external magnetic 6-10 , electric 11 , or optical 12,13 fields globally over the entire workspace. However, these approaches do not permit the spatial selectivity required to independently address individual actuators within a micro-device. Nevertheless, complex non-reciprocal motion patterns have been achieved by carefully engineering the response of different regions in a device to a spatially uniform external field 13,14 .The drawback is that this complicates the fabrication process, inhibits down-scaling and constrains the device to a single predefined behaviour. These challenges mean that most artificial microrobots actually have no actuators. Rather...

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“…For locomotion, microrobot power must be transduced into motion [69]. The actuation method must be chosen based on the operational environment (e.g., blood vessels, soft tissues, cavities, and etc.)…”

Section: Actuation and Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%