Magnetic Microrobots for Biomedical Applications, Second Edition

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "B:Biology and Biomedicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2025) | Viewed by 1757

Special Issue Editors

Department of Electronic Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266000, China
Interests: micro–nano-manufacturing; magnetic microrobotics; MEMS/NEMS devices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361101, China
Interests: microrobotics; microfabrication; microsensors; microfluidics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the rapid development of micro/nanofabrication technology, various multifunctional microrobots have recently emerged and hold great potential in the biomedical field. The term “microrobots” refers to a controllable agent with a size in the range of just micrometers. Because of their small scale, these miniature robots can access complex and narrow regions of the human body in a minimally invasive manner, for example, in the vasculature, brain, eye, articular cavity, gastrointestinal tract, etc. However, owing to their small size, actuators that can be used for the in vivo propelling of microrobots at the micro-scale are still lacking. Currently, a viable option for steering such a microrobot is through external energy transfer. In particular, using magnetic fields for microrobot actuation is the most versatile option for biomedical applications because of their advantages: insensitivity to biological substances, no direct contact, remote control ability, and precise positioning ability. In biomedical fields, magnetic microrobots have the potential to perform various tasks, such as minimally invasive surgery, targeted drug/cell delivery, cell manipulation, biopsy, imaging-guided surgery, intracellular measurement, and antibacterial applications. The aim of this Special Issue of Micromachines is to present recent advances in magnetic microrobots for biomedical applications, including, but not limited to, microrobot design and development, control theories for microrobots, magnetic actuation system design, and the in vivo imaging of microrobots.

Dr. Junyang Li
Dr. Tao Luo
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • microfabrication
  • microrobotics
  • magnetic actuation
  • biomedical applications

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

23 pages, 5559 KiB  
Review
Propulsion Mechanisms in Magnetic Microrobotics: From Single Microrobots to Swarms
by Lanlan Jia, Guangfei Su, Mengyu Zhang, Qi Wen, Lihong Wang and Junyang Li
Micromachines 2025, 16(2), 181; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi16020181 - 31 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1446
Abstract
Microrobots with different structures can exhibit multiple propulsion mechanisms under external magnetic fields. Swarms dynamically assembled by microrobots inherit the advantages of single microrobots, such as degradability and small dimensions, while also offering benefits like scalability and high flexibility. With control of magnetic [...] Read more.
Microrobots with different structures can exhibit multiple propulsion mechanisms under external magnetic fields. Swarms dynamically assembled by microrobots inherit the advantages of single microrobots, such as degradability and small dimensions, while also offering benefits like scalability and high flexibility. With control of magnetic fields, these swarms demonstrate diverse propulsion mechanisms and can perform precise actions in complex environments. Therefore, the relationship between single microrobots and their swarms is a significant area of study. This paper reviews the relationship between single microrobots and swarms by examining the structural design, control methods, propulsion mechanisms, and practical applications. At first, we introduce the structural design of microrobots, including materials and manufacturing methods. Then, we describe magnetic field generation systems, including gradient, rotating, and oscillating magnetic fields, and their characteristics. Next, we analyze the propulsion mechanisms of individual microrobots and the way microrobots dynamically assemble into a swarm under an external magnetic field, which illustrates the relationship between single microrobots and swarms. Finally, we discuss the application of different swarm propulsion mechanisms in water purification and targeted delivery, summarize current challenges and future work, and explore future directions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnetic Microrobots for Biomedical Applications, Second Edition)
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