The Rotation of Microrobot Simplifies 3D Control Inside Microchannels.

ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on the control of rotating helical microrobots inside microchannels. We first use a 50 μm long and 5 μm in diameter helical robot to prove that the proximity of the channel walls create a perpendicular force on the robot. This force makes the robot orbit around the channel center line. We also demonstrate experimentally that this phenomenon simplifies the robot control by guiding it on a channel even if the robot propulsion is not perfectly aligned with the channel direction. We then use numerical simulations, validated by real experimental cases, to show different implications on the microrobot control of this orbiting phenomenon. First, the robot can be centered in 3D inside an in-plane microchannel only by controlling its horizontal direction (yaw angle). This means t

SUBMITTER: Barbot A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5765130 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature