Preparation And Research Of Magnetically-Controlled Flexible Micro-Robot Based On Magnetic Particle Arrangement

Magnetically-controlled flexible micro-robots can be controlled by an applied magnetic field to accomplish the desired deformation and thus achieve the corresponding motion capabilities and functions.Compared to conventional large robots,magnetically controlled flexible micro-robots have a higher degree of freedom,flexibility,and adaptability.Therefore,Magnetically-controlled flexible micro-robots have great potential for applications in healthcare,bioengineering,and robotics.However,most of the current research in the design,fabrication,and application of magnetically controlled flexible robots has been experimental.This is due to the size limitation of magnetically controlled flexible micro-robots,which makes them difficult to be widely used in biomedical and bioengineering applications.However,further miniaturization of magnetically controlled flexible robots requires the reduction or elimination of some integrated components,which leads to several limitations in the preparation,actuation,control,and transportation of magnetically controlled flexible robots to work.In addition,the potential applications of magnetically controlled flexible robots are highly dependent on their size and shape,and therefore,the use of suitable manufacturing techniques is also critical.To address these issues,a new preparation method is developed in this paper.The small size of magnetically controlled flexible micro-robots prepared by this method,along with a naturally cured polymer matrix,minimal soft magnetic particles,and no need for repetitive preparation of magnetic axes,greatly reduces manufacturing conditions and fabrication costs.The contents of this study are summarized as follows.(1)The application fields and development prospects of magnetically controlled flexible micro-robots are analyzed,the current research status in the field of magnetically controlled flexible micro-robots is summarized,and the preparation methods,motion mechanisms,design of driving magnetic fields,application fields of magnetically controlled flexible micro-robots,and the advantages and limitations of various current magnetically controlled flexible robot design methods are reviewed.(2)A new preparation method is proposed based on the advantages and limitations of current magnetically-controlled flexible micro-robots.The preparation method is based on a programming strategy of programming soft magnetic particle arrangements by which the magnetic moments and magnetic forces required for magnetically controlled flexible robots can be designed to produce fast,reversible,and programmable shape transformations.Several basic deformations of this magneticallycontrolled flexible micro-robot is then demonstrated and synthesized using experiments and simulations.(3)Based on the optimization of the above preparation method,a preparation theory for magnetic field-controlled soft magnetic particle alignment is proposed.The corresponding numerical model is established based on the arrangement mechanism of magnetic particles,and the numerical model is experimentally verified.Subsequently,the motion trajectory of a pair of soft magnetic particles under a uniform magnetic field is studied and the formation law of the motion trajectory is summarized.This provides insight into the arrangement mechanism of magnetic particles.(4)To investigate the structure formation mechanism of magnetic particle chains,numerical simulations were used to study the critical lines of attraction and repulsion between magnetic particles and magnetic particle chains.It was found that the transverse assembly region exists in the magnetic particle chains and the area of the transverse assembly region is positively correlated with the length of the magnetic particle chains.This conclusion was then verified experimentally.Finally,the formation mechanism of the magnetic particle arrangement structure is successfully explained by the transverse assembly region,which provides theoretical guidance for the magnetic field control of the magnetic particle arrangement structure.(5)A preparation method for magnetic field-controlled magnetic particle alignment was proposed,and the corresponding structural components were successfully prepared.The corresponding structural components were then assembled with the assistance of a magnetic field,and a magnetically controlled flexible microrobot with swimming and clamping functions was successfully assembled.Compared with the magnetically controlled flexible micro-robot prepared by manually arranging magnetic particles,its motion capability and control performance is significantly improved,and it can be prepared in a smaller size.