Dataset Information

Untethered soft magnetic pump for microfluidics-based Marangoni surfer.

ABSTRACT: Microfluidics has enabled the miniaturization of fluidic systems for various biomedical and industrial applications, including small-scale robotic propulsion. One mechanism for generating propulsive force through microfluidics is by exploiting the solutal Marangoni effect via releasing surfactant on the air-water interface. Surfactants locally reduce the surface tension, which leads to a surface stress that can propel the floating robot, called Marangoni surfer. However, so far the release of the surfactant is not controllable. In this study, we combine microfluidics-based Marangoni propulsion with a novel untethered magnetic pumping mechanism to enhance its controllability. The proposed magnetic micropump capitalizes on the interaction force between two soft magnets, which can generate a pumping force of 4.64 mN to actuate a membrane, and achieve a deformation of 450 μm. Net flow is achieved using a nozzle/diffuser flow rectifier whose efficacy as a function of the channel geometry is numerically studied. We investigate the flow rate of the pump with regard to the actuation frequency. Finally, we demonstrate its ability to control the motion of the Marangoni surfer.

SUBMITTER: Lin YH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11365977 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Untethered soft magnetic pump for microfluidics-based Marangoni surfer.

Lin Yu-Hsiang YH Piñan Basualdo Franco N FN Kalpathy Venkiteswaran Venkatasubramanian V Misra Sarthak S

Scientific reports 20240831 1

Microfluidics has enabled the miniaturization of fluidic systems for various biomedical and industrial applications, including small-scale robotic propulsion. One mechanism for generating propulsive force through microfluidics is by exploiting the solutal Marangoni effect via releasing surfactant on the air-water interface. Surfactants locally reduce the surface tension, which leads to a surface stress that can propel the floating robot, called Marangoni surfer. However, so far the release of th ...[more]

PMID: 39217167

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Project description:Untethered miniature robotics have recently shown promising results in several scenarios at the microscale, such as targeted drug delivery, microassembly, and biopsy procedures. However, the vast majority of these small-scale robots have very limited manipulation capabilities, and none of the steering systems currently available enable humans to intuitively and effectively control dexterous miniaturized robots in a remote environment. In this paper, we present an innovative micro teleoperation system with haptic assistance for the intuitive steering and control of miniaturized self-folding soft magnetic grippers in 2-D space. The soft grippers can be wirelessly positioned using weak magnetic fields and opened/closed by changing their temperature. An image-guided algorithm tracks the position of the controlled miniaturized gripper in the remote environment. A haptic interface provides the human operator with compelling haptic sensations about the interaction between the gripper and the environment, as well as enables the operator to intuitively control the target position and grasping configuration of the gripper. Finally, magnetic and thermal control systems regulate the position and grasping configuration of the gripper. The viability of the proposed approach is demonstrated through two experiments involving 26 human subjects. Providing haptic stimuli elicited statistically significant improvements in the performance of the considered navigation and micromanipulation tasks. Note to Practitioners-The ability to accurately and intuitively control the motion of miniaturized grippers in remote environments can open new exciting possibilities in the fields of minimally-invasive surgery, micromanipulation, biopsy, and drug delivery. This paper presents a micro teleoperation system with haptic assistance through which a clinician can easily control the motion and open/close capability of miniaturized wireless soft grippers. It introduces the underlying autonomous magnetic and thermal control systems, their interconnection with the master haptic interface, and an extensive evaluation in two real-world scenarios: following of a predetermined trajectory, and pick-and-place of a microscopic object.

Dataset Information

Untethered soft magnetic pump for microfluidics-based Marangoni surfer.

Publications

Untethered soft magnetic pump for microfluidics-based Marangoni surfer.

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