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Soft micromachines with programmable motility and morphology

Author

Listed:
  • Hen-Wei Huang

    (Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich)

  • Mahmut Selman Sakar

    (Institute of Mechanical Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Andrew J. Petruska

    (Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich)

  • Salvador Pané

    (Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich)

  • Bradley J. Nelson

    (Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich)

Abstract

Nature provides a wide range of inspiration for building mobile micromachines that can navigate through confined heterogenous environments and perform minimally invasive environmental and biomedical operations. For example, microstructures fabricated in the form of bacterial or eukaryotic flagella can act as artificial microswimmers. Due to limitations in their design and material properties, these simple micromachines lack multifunctionality, effective addressability and manoeuvrability in complex environments. Here we develop an origami-inspired rapid prototyping process for building self-folding, magnetically powered micromachines with complex body plans, reconfigurable shape and controllable motility. Selective reprogramming of the mechanical design and magnetic anisotropy of body parts dynamically modulates the swimming characteristics of the micromachines. We find that tail and body morphologies together determine swimming efficiency and, unlike for rigid swimmers, the choice of magnetic field can subtly change the motility of soft microswimmers.

Suggested Citation

  • Hen-Wei Huang & Mahmut Selman Sakar & Andrew J. Petruska & Salvador Pané & Bradley J. Nelson, 2016. "Soft micromachines with programmable motility and morphology," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12263
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12263
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    Cited by:

    1. Zemin Liu & Meng Li & Xiaoguang Dong & Ziyu Ren & Wenqi Hu & Metin Sitti, 2022. "Creating three-dimensional magnetic functional microdevices via molding-integrated direct laser writing," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Mengmeng Sun & Bo Hao & Shihao Yang & Xin Wang & Carmel Majidi & Li Zhang, 2022. "Exploiting ferrofluidic wetting for miniature soft machines," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Christian Becker & Bin Bao & Dmitriy D. Karnaushenko & Vineeth Kumar Bandari & Boris Rivkin & Zhe Li & Maryam Faghih & Daniil Karnaushenko & Oliver G. Schmidt, 2022. "A new dimension for magnetosensitive e-skins: active matrix integrated micro-origami sensor arrays," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Dezhao Lin & Fan Yang & Di Gong & Ruihong Li, 2023. "Bio-inspired magnetic-driven folded diaphragm for biomimetic robot," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, 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.

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