title: Magnetic Driving Flowerlike Soft Platform: Biomimetic Fabrication and External Regulation.
abstract: Nature-inspired actuators that can be driven by various stimuli are an emerging application in mobile microrobotics and microfluidics. In this study, a soft and multiple-environment-adaptive robotic platform with ferromagnetic particles impregnated in silicon-based polymer is adopted to fabricate microrobots for minimally invasive locomotion and control interaction with their environment. As an intelligent structure of platform, the change of its bending, deformation, and flapping displacement is rapid, reversible, and continuously controllable with sweeping and multicycle magnetic actuation. The bending angle of the soft platform (0.2 mm in thickness and 8.5 mm in length) can be deflected up to almost 90° within 2.7 s. Experiments demonstrated that the flexible platform of human skin-like material in various shapes, that is, flowerlike shapes, can transport a cargo to targeted area in air and a variety of liquids. It indicates excellent magnetic-actuation ability and good controllability. The results may be helpful in developing a magnetic-driven carrying platform, which can be operated like a human finger to manipulate biological objects such as single cells, microbeads, or embryos. Especially, it is likely to be used in harsh chemical and physical circumstances.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Western Disaster and Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Civil Engineering and Mechanic, Key Laboratory of Special Function Materials and Structure Design of Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University , Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Food Equipment Engineering and Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an 710049, People's Republic of China.|State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an 710049, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lanlan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Western Disaster and Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Civil Engineering and Mechanic, Key Laboratory of Special Function Materials and Structure Design of Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University , Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xingzhe
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an 710049, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongzhong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D032701:Biomimetics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008280:Magnetics; D044085:Microfluidics; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D012371:Robotics; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D012825:Silicon
keywords: biomimetics; flexible gripper; magnetic actuation; magnetic particle-filled composites; magneto-elastic coupling; stimuli-responsive materials