Li Teng, Li Jiali, Bo Luyu, Bachman Hunter, Fan Bei, Cheng Jiangtao, Tian Zhenhua
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA.
Sci Adv. 2024 May 24;10(21):eadm7698. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adm7698.
Robotic manipulation of small objects has shown great potential for engineering, biology, and chemistry research. However, existing robotic platforms have difficulty in achieving contactless, high-resolution, 4-degrees-of-freedom (4-DOF) manipulation of small objects, and noninvasive maneuvering of objects in regions shielded by tissue and bone barriers. Here, we present chirality-tunable acoustic vortex tweezers that can tune acoustic vortex chirality, transmit through biological barriers, trap single micro- to millimeter-sized objects, and control object rotation. Assisted by programmable robots, our acoustic systems further enable contactless, high-resolution translation of single objects. Our systems were demonstrated by tuning acoustic vortex chirality, controlling object rotation, and translating objects along arbitrary-shaped paths. Moreover, we used our systems to trap single objects in regions with tissue and skull barriers and translate an object inside a Y-shaped channel of a thick biomimetic phantom. In addition, we showed the function of ultrasound imaging-assisted acoustic manipulation by monitoring acoustic object manipulation via live ultrasound imaging.
机器人对微小物体的操作在工程、生物学和化学研究中已展现出巨大潜力。然而，现有的机器人平台在实现对微小物体的非接触式、高分辨率、四自由度（4-DOF）操作以及在被组织和骨骼屏障屏蔽的区域对物体进行无创操控方面存在困难。在此，我们展示了手性可调谐声涡旋镊子，其能够调节声涡旋手性，穿透生物屏障，捕获单个微米到毫米大小的物体，并控制物体旋转。在可编程机器人的辅助下，我们的声学系统进一步实现了对单个物体的非接触式、高分辨率平移。我们的系统通过调节声涡旋手性、控制物体旋转以及沿任意形状路径平移物体得到了验证。此外，我们利用我们的系统在存在组织和颅骨屏障的区域捕获单个物体，并在厚仿生模型的Y形通道内平移一个物体。另外，我们通过实时超声成像监测声学物体操控展示了超声成像辅助声学操控的功能。
