IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-34023-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reduced rotational flows enable the translation of surface-rolling microrobots in confined spaces

Author

Listed:
  • Ugur Bozuyuk

    (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
    ETH Zurich)

  • Amirreza Aghakhani

    (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems)

  • Yunus Alapan

    (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems)

  • Muhammad Yunusa

    (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems)

  • Paul Wrede

    (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
    ETH Zurich)

  • Metin Sitti

    (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
    ETH Zurich
    Koç University)

Abstract

Biological microorganisms overcome the Brownian motion at low Reynolds numbers by utilizing symmetry-breaking mechanisms. Inspired by them, various microrobot locomotion methods have been developed at the microscale by breaking the hydrodynamic symmetry. Although the boundary effects have been extensively studied for microswimmers and employed for surface-rolling microrobots, the behavior of microrobots in the proximity of multiple wall-based “confinement” is yet to be elucidated. Here, we study the confinement effect on the motion of surface-rolling microrobots. Our experiments demonstrate that the locomotion efficiency of spherical microrollers drastically decreases in confined spaces due to out-of-plane rotational flows generated during locomotion. Hence, a slender microroller design, generating smaller rotational flows, is shown to outperform spherical microrollers in confined spaces. Our results elucidate the underlying physics of surface rolling-based locomotion in confined spaces and present a design strategy with optimal flow generation for efficient propulsion in such areas, including blood vessels and microchannels.

Suggested Citation

  • Ugur Bozuyuk & Amirreza Aghakhani & Yunus Alapan & Muhammad Yunusa & Paul Wrede & Metin Sitti, 2022. "Reduced rotational flows enable the translation of surface-rolling microrobots in confined spaces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-34023-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34023-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34023-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-34023-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. T. O. Tasci & P. S. Herson & K. B. Neeves & D. W. M. Marr, 2016. "Surface-enabled propulsion and control of colloidal microwheels," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6, April.
    2. Tian Qiu & Tung-Chun Lee & Andrew G. Mark & Konstantin I. Morozov & Raphael Münster & Otto Mierka & Stefan Turek & Alexander M. Leshansky & Peer Fischer, 2014. "Swimming by reciprocal motion at low Reynolds number," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Louis William Rogowski & Jamel Ali & Xiao Zhang & James N. Wilking & Henry C. Fu & Min Jun Kim, 2021. "Symmetry breaking propulsion of magnetic microspheres in nonlinearly viscoelastic fluids," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jakub Janiak & Yuyang Li & Yann Ferry & Alexander A. Doinikov & Daniel Ahmed, 2023. "Acoustic microbubble propulsion, train-like assembly and cargo transport," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Sung-Jo Kim & Žiga Kos & Eujin Um & Joonwoo Jeong, 2024. "Symmetrically pulsating bubbles swim in an anisotropic fluid by nematodynamics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Zhiyuan Zhang & Alexander Sukhov & Jens Harting & Paolo Malgaretti & Daniel Ahmed, 2022. "Rolling microswarms along acoustic virtual walls," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Nima Mirkhani & Michael G. Christiansen & Tinotenda Gwisai & Stefano Menghini & Simone Schuerle, 2024. "Spatially selective delivery of living magnetic microrobots through torque-focusing," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Laliphat Manamanchaiyaporn & Tiantian Xu & Xinyu Wu, 2020. "An Optimal Design of an Electromagnetic Actuation System towards a Large Homogeneous Magnetic Field and Accessible Workspace for Magnetic Manipulation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-24, February.
    6. Cornel Dillinger & Nitesh Nama & Daniel Ahmed, 2021. "Ultrasound-activated ciliary bands for microrobotic systems inspired by starfish," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-34023-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.