Abstract
Opto-thermocapillary flow-addressed bubble (OFB) microrobots are a potential tool for the efficient transportation of micro-objects. This microrobot system uses light patterns to generate thermal gradients within a liquid medium, creating thermocapillary forces that actuate the bubble microrobots. An interactive control system that includes scanning mirrors and a touchscreen interface was developed to address up to ten OFB microrobots. Using this system, the parallel and cooperative transportation of 20-μm-diameter polystyrene beads was demonstrated.
Highlights
Microrobots, nontethered microstructures that can physically manipulate objects, are flexible tools for micro-transportation
Using the interactive microrobot control system described in the previous section, ten bubble microrobots were configured into different patterns, including the letters ‘UH’ and arrays that may be useful in cell patterning [24] (Figure 4)
Agarose is a naturally extracted biomatrix that can support cell growth [25], which aligns with the ultimate goal of using this microrobot system to assemble cells
Summary
Microrobots, nontethered microstructures that can physically manipulate objects, are flexible tools for micro-transportation. Various types of microrobots have successfully transported objects such as microbeads [1,2,3,4], microgels [5], and single cells [4,5]. Microrobotic transportation has two advantages when compared to tools such as optical tweezers, optically induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP), and micromanipulators. Microrobotic transportation does not rely on the optical properties or chemistry of the target objects and the surrounding medium. Optical tweezers require a refractive index difference between the objects and medium [6]. The parallel transportation of microrobots has been demonstrated [1,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]
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