Communications of the ACM
Microswimmers: Research Shows Micron-Scale Swimming Robots Could Deliver Drugs & Carry Cargo Using Simple Motion
Illustration shows the rigid propulsive flaps on each side of the micro-swimmer, while the steering flap on the front is being deformed by a light source. The green cones represent velocity vectors through the middle of the microswimmer.
Credit: Alexander Alexeev
Georgia Tech researchers are using computational models to design swimming micro-robots that can carry cargo and navigate in response to light.
Although their micro-swimmers are still under development, the researchers say they eventually could be used in drug delivery, lab-on-a-chip microfluidic systems, and as micro-construction robots. "We wanted to demonstrate the principle of how robots this small could move by determining what is important and what would need to be used to build a real system," says Georgia Tech professor Alexander Alexeev.
The swimming robot consists of a responsive gel body about 10 microns long with two propulsive flaps attached to opposite sides. The trajectory of the micro-swimming robot would be controlled by a flexible steering flap on its front. "The combination of these flaps and the oscillating body creates a very nice motion that we believe can be used to propel the swimmer," Alexeev says.
As part of their modeling, the researchers studied the effects of flaps of different sizes and properties and how flexible the micro-swimmer's body needed to be to produce the kind of movement needed for swimming.
From Georgia Tech News
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2012 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found