3D Helmholtz Coil-based Hybrid Manipulation for Active Locomotion of Magnetic Micro/Nano Robots

Abstract

This study presents hybrid control based on three-axis Helmholtz coil for manipulation of magnetic micro/nano robots. In general, magnetic force and torque control requires both Maxwell and Helmholtz coils. Therefore, the configuration of the magnetic manipulation system is complex and requires many power supplies. The hybrid method controls the three-axis Helmholtz coil and three power supplies through mechanical switch control to generate magnetic force and torque. Magnetic torque is controlled by the three-axis Helmholtz coil with a rotating magnetic field, and magnetic force is controlled by generating gradient magnetic field through the separated coils by the switch control. Three switches separate each Helmholtz coil and six switches control the separated six coil with the three power supplies. The hybrid control can provide simple configuration of coil system, various active locomotion, and precision control in complex environments. To verify the proposed method, we conducted magnetic simulation with various experimental tests.