Recently, the Micro-Nano Research Group at the Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made new progress in the field of microrobots. The researched bubble microrobots have achieved integrated assembly and driving of multiple microstructures, and the relevant research results were published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Robots are widely used in industrial automation fields such as automobile manufacturing and aircraft painting, but the automation of microstructure component assembly for biomedical applications has not yet been realized. With the miniaturization of manufacturing, the microstructures being processed are only tens or hundreds of micrometers long, posing a challenge for assembly. Microrobots are a potential solution. In previous studies, scientists utilized lasers or ultrasound to create microbubbles for two-dimensional or three-dimensional assembly of microstructures, but could not connect these loosely independent structures into a whole.
The researchers at the Shenyang Institute of Automation aim to develop bubble microrobots that can assemble multiple independent structures into an integrated structure and control their movement based on previous work on two-dimensional and three-dimensional operations (including two-dimensional movement, rotation, and three-dimensional flipping, rolling, etc.) of bubble microrobots.
By cleverly designing the microstructures with a snap-fit connection structure, the bubble microrobots can lift, flip, and assemble multiple independent microstructures into a cohesive structure that does not fall apart, such as a complete gear structure, serpentine structure, or cart structure assembled from multiple independent microstructures. The bubble robots can also serve as actuators to drive these structures’ movements, including bending of the serpentine structure, rotation of gears, and movement of carts. This method provides a new solution for the operation and integrated assembly of microstructures and the construction of in vitro biological tissues. The research results have been highlighted by the American Chemical Society.
The research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation, the National Key R&D Program, the Key International Cooperation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Cross-Innovation Team.
Integrated Assembly and Driving Methods for Bubble Microrobots
Source: Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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