He Yuanzhe, Wang Lefeng, Zhao Min, Fan Zenghua, Rong Weibin, Sun Lining
State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 May 18;14(19):22570-22581. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c01131. Epub 2022 May 4.
Microrobots working at liquid surfaces have immense potential for micromanipulation in tight and enclosed spaces, whereas constructing agile and functional microrobots with simple structures at liquid surfaces is a great challenge. Herein, a pair of magnetic circular microdisks working as partners at ethylene glycol (EG) surfaces are proposed in order to accomplish flexible locomotion and in situ micromanipulation tasks. The microdisks can be controlled to connect and separate by modulating the orientation of the applied magnetic field. After the two disks connect as an entity, they are transformed into micropartners under an oscillating magnetic field in 3D space. By changing the vertical component of the oscillating field, the micropartners can obtain controllable propulsion through paddling and wriggling modes, and the locomotion speed can reach approximately two body lengths per second. They can also climb a meniscus, and even crawl on a solid surface in a liquid. Finally, this pair of micropartners is demonstrated as a flexible microgripper to implement manipulations at the liquid surfaces, including cargo capture, delivery along prescribed paths, and release.
在液体表面工作的微型机器人在狭小封闭空间内进行微操作具有巨大潜力，然而在液体表面构建结构简单却敏捷且功能强大的微型机器人是一项巨大挑战。在此，提出了一对在乙二醇（EG）表面协同工作的磁性圆形微盘，以完成灵活运动和原位微操作任务。通过调节外加磁场的方向，可以控制微盘连接和分离。两个微盘连接成一个整体后，在三维空间中的振荡磁场作用下转变为微伙伴。通过改变振荡磁场的垂直分量，微伙伴可以通过划水和蠕动模式获得可控推进力，运动速度可达每秒约两个体长。它们还能攀爬弯月面，甚至在液体中的固体表面爬行。最后，展示了这对微伙伴作为灵活的微型夹具在液体表面进行操作，包括货物捕获、沿规定路径输送和释放。
