Localized non-contact manipulation using artificial bacterial flagella

Artificial bacterial flagella (ABFs) are swimming microrobots that mimic the propulsion method of bacteria, such as Escherichia coli. Microrobots have the potential to act as wireless manipulation tools for in vitro applications. This paper investigates the micro-flows induced by ABFs for localized contact-free manipulation of micro-objects. The flow is simulated using the method of fundamental solutions and compared to experimental data where the tangential flow was measured by means of tracking polystyrene microbeads. Good agreement with the experimental data was found, and preliminary results show the contact-free rotation away from and the translation of micro-objects near a solid wall. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3655904]