A Magnetic Helical Miniature Robot with Soft Magnetic-Controlled Gripper

Abstract

Magnetic helical miniature robots (MHMRs) exhibit efficient motion performance in low Reynolds number environments, having great promise for biomedical applications like targeted delivery. However, during targeted delivery, the backward propulsion of MHMRs in previous work leads to cargo being released, limiting their degrees of freedom and interference resistance. Furthermore, the basic magnetic field parameter, amplitude, has not been effectively utilized in previous MHMRs. In this letter, we propose a magnetic helical miniature robot with soft magnetic-controlled gripper (MHMR-G), using magnetic field amplitude to functionalize MHMRs for the first time. The velocity of MHMR-G is controlled by magnetic field frequency and the grasping of gripper is controlled by magnetic field amplitude. It is proposed that the lag angle and rotation frequency will adversely affect the grasping of gripper under a rotating magnetic field, but results show that increasing magnetic field amplitude can effectively mitigate these adverse effects. Finally, a manipulation test of cargo transport is performed, demonstrating that the gripper of MHMR-G can effectively confine cargo during propulsion.