4.8 Article

CeFlowBot: A Biomimetic Flow-Driven Microrobot that Navigates under Magneto-Acoustic Fields

Journal

SMALL
Volume 18, Issue 9, Pages -

Publisher

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202105829

Keywords

acoustofluidics; biomimicry; magnetic propulsion; microstreaming; microswimmers

Funding

  1. Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research [14855]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The unique pumping mechanism of cephalopods has been mimicked in an untethered microrobot called CeFlowBot, utilizing an array of vibrating bubbles to enhance propulsion. Functionalized with magnetic layers, CeFlowBots can be steered under combined magnetic and acoustic fields to navigate remote environments and perform targeted manipulation, making them useful for clinical applications such as targeted drug delivery. Additionally, an ultrasound imaging system is employed to visualize the motion of CeFlowBots in hard-to-reach environments inaccessible to optical cameras.
Aquatic organisms within the Cephalopoda family (e.g., octopuses, squids, cuttlefish) exist that draw the surrounding fluid inside their bodies and expel it in a single jet thrust to swim forward. Like cephalopods, several acoustically powered microsystems share a similar process of fluid expulsion which makes them useful as microfluidic pumps in lab-on-a-chip devices. Herein, an array of acoustically resonant bubbles are employed to mimic this pumping phenomenon inside an untethered microrobot called CeFlowBot. CeFlowBot contains an array of vibrating bubbles that pump fluid through its inner body thereby boosting its propulsion. CeFlowBots are later functionalized with magnetic layers and steered under combined influence of magnetic and acoustic fields. Moreover, acoustic power modulation of CeFlowBots is used to grasp nearby objects and release it in the surrounding workspace. The ability of CeFlowBots to navigate remote environments under magneto-acoustic fields and perform targeted manipulation makes such microrobots useful for clinical applications such as targeted drug delivery. Lastly, an ultrasound imaging system is employed to visualize the motion of CeFlowBots which provides means to deploy such microrobots in hard-to-reach environments inaccessible to optical cameras.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.8
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available