Active generation and magnetic actuation of microrobotic swarms in bio-fluids

Jiangfan Yu, Dongdong Jin, Kai-Fung Chan, Qianqian Wang, Ke Yuan and Li Zhang ()
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Jiangfan Yu: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dongdong Jin: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Kai-Fung Chan: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Qianqian Wang: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Ke Yuan: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Li Zhang: The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract In nature, various types of animals will form self-organised large-scale structures. Through designing wireless actuation methods, microrobots can emulate natural swarm behaviours, which have drawn extensive attention due to their great potential in biomedical applications. However, as the prerequisite for their in-vivo applications, whether microrobotic swarms can take effect in bio-fluids with complex components has yet to be fully investigated. In this work, we first categorise magnetic active swarms into three types, and individually investigate the generation and navigation behaviours of two types of the swarms in bio-fluids. The influences of viscosities, ionic strengths and mesh-like structures are studied. A strategy is then proposed to select the optimised swarms in different fluidic environments based on their physical properties, and the results are further validated in various bio-fluids. Moreover, we also realise the swarm generation and navigation in bovine eyeballs, which also validates the proposed prediction in the ex-vivo environment.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13576-6

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