Detachable electromagnetic actuation system for inverted microscope and its function in motion control of microrobots

Abstract

In recent years, magnetic microrobots have shown unique advantages and exciting prospects in many application fields. However, the motion mechanism, driving force and imaging effect of magnetic microrobots still need to be further studied and improved. These factors are related to the design of magnetic actuation systems and the manufacturing of microrobots. This paper presents a new structural design involving detachable electromagnetic coils for developing a combinable magnetic actuation system that can be integrated with inverted microscopes for microrobot research. A maximum magnetic field intensity of 20 mT and uniform working space of 10 mm × 10 mm are achieved by applying coil parameter optimization and the yoke design. Furthermore, a dumbbell microrobot, which is symmetrical along its length axis, and a moon microrobot, which is asymmetric along its length axis, are fabricated and their motion characteristics are compared. The dumbbell microrobot exhibits reversible switching of three motion modes, whereas the motion of the moon microrobot exhibits the obvious drift. These dumbbell and moon microrobots are successfully controlled to move along a square path and a labyrinth path respectively, thus verifying the control performance of the magnetic actuation system.