Magnetically Controllable Liquid Metal Droplet Robots

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Magnetically actuated miniature robots exhibit great potential in lab-on-a-chip and biomedical applications. However, the existing soft robots made from elastomers have limited functionality and are unable to operate in very narrow environments such as channels much smaller than their size due to their limited deformability. Herein, a magnetically actuated millirobot based on liquid metal is proposed to address the above problems. The droplet robot is fabricated by mixing iron particles and a gallium-indium droplet. The static analysis of the robot is conducted, and the dynamic equation is established. The control strategy is analyzed, the experimental setup is designed, and related experiments are conducted. In the experiments, the droplet robot demonstrates remarkable flexibility and softness when navigating freely in narrow channels, allowing it to easily pass through confined spaces much smaller than its size. The demonstrated capabilities of the droplet present a promising potential for its application in lab-on-a-chip or biomedical devices.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIntelligent Robotics and Applications - 16th International Conference, ICIRA 2023, Proceedings
EditorsHuayong Yang, Jun Zou, Geng Yang, Xiaoping Ouyang, Honghai Liu, Zhouping Yin, Lianqing Liu, Zhiyong Wang
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages434-442
Number of pages9
ISBN (Print)9789819965007
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Event16th International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications, ICIRA 2023 - Hangzhou, China
Duration: 5 Jul 20237 Jul 2023

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume14274 LNAI
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference16th International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications, ICIRA 2023
Country/TerritoryChina
CityHangzhou
Period5/07/237/07/23

Keywords

  • Liquid metal
  • Magnetic control
  • Millirobots
  • Soft robots

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