Abstract
This paper proposes a novel sphericon-shaped magnetic millirobot (SSMM) that can roll on a variety of surfaces. The SSMM comprises four identical half cones with a cylindrical magnet inserted into the geometric center. It can roll forward or backward on a surface with repeated rolling cone motions (wobbling motions). Since a rolling SSMM develops its entire surface by means of line contact, a relatively large maximum static friction force can make the SSMM move on a surface steadily and effectively. In this work, a new type of external wobbling magnetic field (EWMF) was also derived to manipulate the SSMM’s rolling motions precisely. Then, the controlled rolling motions of prototype SSMMs under various surface conditions were demonstrated to examine the rolling ability of the proposed SSMM.
Highlights
INTRODUCTIONMagnetic robots that can be wirelessly actuated by external magnetic fields have attracted attention in many biological and biomedical applications.[1,2,3,4,5] They provide a promising means to perform various tasks ranging from micro-scale cell manipulation, material composition, and drug delivery to macro-scale intestinal diagnosis, vascular unclogging, and stent delivery, that are difficult to conduct using conventional technologies.[1,2,3]
This paper proposes a novel sphericon-shaped magnetic millirobot (SSMM) able to roll on a surface steadily and effectively, actuated by an external magnetic field (Fig. 1)
By controlling each coil current using Eqs. (2) and (3), the magnetic navigation system (MNS) can effectively manipulate the rolling motions of the SSMM
Summary
Magnetic robots that can be wirelessly actuated by external magnetic fields have attracted attention in many biological and biomedical applications.[1,2,3,4,5] They provide a promising means to perform various tasks ranging from micro-scale cell manipulation, material composition, and drug delivery to macro-scale intestinal diagnosis, vascular unclogging, and stent delivery, that are difficult to conduct using conventional technologies.[1,2,3]. The rolling SSMM develops its entire surface by means of line contact in which every point and line of the SSMM touches the surface every one rotation This allows the SSMM to generate a stable rolling motion supported by a relatively large maximum static friction force.[7] If the SSMM is free to rotate along an arbitrary direction on a surface, it can be considered that the orientation of the cylindrical magnet inserted into the SSMM always follows the direction of the applied field based on the equation of magnetic torque.[4] considering Eq (1) and the kinematic constraints of the rolling SSMM, the EWMF that can precisely generate the SSMM’s ydirectional rolling (wobbling) motion on a horizontal xy-plane can be derived as the following two.
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