Research

Jump to: Review

13 pages, 5667 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Attitude Estimation Algorithm of Portable Mobile Robot Based on Complementary Filter

by Mei Liu, Yuanli Cai, Lihao Zhang and Yiqun Wang

Micromachines 2021, 12(11), 1373; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12111373 - 08 Nov 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2122

In robot inertial navigation systems, to deal with the problems of drift and noise in the gyroscope and accelerometer and the high computational cost when using extended Kalman filter (EKF) and particle filter (PF), a complementary filtering algorithm is utilized. By combining the [...] Read more.

In robot inertial navigation systems, to deal with the problems of drift and noise in the gyroscope and accelerometer and the high computational cost when using extended Kalman filter (EKF) and particle filter (PF), a complementary filtering algorithm is utilized. By combining the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) multi-sensor signals, the attitude data are corrected, and the high-precision attitude angles are obtained. In this paper, the quaternion algorithm is used to describe the attitude motion, and the process of attitude estimation is analyzed in detail. Moreover, the models of the sensor and system are given. Ultimately, the attitude angles are estimated by using the quaternion extended Kalman filter, linear complementary filter, and Mahony complementary filter, respectively. The experimental results show that the Mahony complementary filtering algorithm has less computational cost than the extended Kalman filtering algorithm, while the attitude estimation accuracy of these two algorithms is similar, which reveals that Mahony complementary filtering is more suitable for low-cost embedded systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nano Robotics: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Toshio Fukuda)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 3045 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization of the Fluidic-Based Assembly for Three-Dimensional Construction of Multicellular Hydrogel Micro-Architecture in Mimicking Hepatic Lobule-like Tissues

by Qian Liang, Yaozhen Hou, Fei Meng and Huaping Wang

Micromachines 2021, 12(9), 1129; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12091129 - 20 Sep 2021

Viewed by 1698

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) assembly of microstructures encapsulating co-cultured multiple cells can highly recapitulate the in vivo tissues, which has a great prospect in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In order to fully mimic the in vivo architecture, the hydrogel microstructure needs to be designed [...] Read more.

Three-dimensional (3D) assembly of microstructures encapsulating co-cultured multiple cells can highly recapitulate the in vivo tissues, which has a great prospect in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In order to fully mimic the in vivo architecture, the hydrogel microstructure needs to be designed into a special shape and spatially organized without damage, which is very challenging because of its limited mechanical properties. Here, we propose a 3D assembly method for the construction of liver lobule-like microstructures (a mimetic gear-like microstructure of liver lobule) through the local fluidic interaction. Although the method has been proven and is known as the consensual means for constructing 3D cellular models, it is still challenging to improve the assembly efficiency and the assembly success rate by adjusting the fluidic force of non-contact lifting and stacking. To improve the assembly efficiency and the assembly success rate, a fluidic simulation model is proposed based on the mechanism of the interaction between the microstructures and the fluid. By computing the simulation model, we found three main parameters that affect the assembly process; they are the velocity of the microflow, the tilt angle of the manipulator and the spacing between the microstructures and the manipulator. Compared with our previous work, the assembly efficiency was significantly improved 63.8% by using the optimized parameters of the model for assembly process, and the assembly success rate was improved from 98% to 99.5%. With the assistance of the assembly simulation, the luminal 3D micromodels of liver tissue show suitable bioactivity and biocompatibility after long-term hepatocytes culture. We anticipate that our method will be capable of improving the efficiency of the microstructures assembly to regenerate more complex multicellular constructs with unprecedented possibilities for future tissue engineering applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nano Robotics: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Toshio Fukuda)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 4781 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Microfluidic Assessment of Drug Effects on Physical Properties of Androgen Sensitive and Non-Sensitive Prostate Cancer Cells

by Da Luo, Na Liu, Yang Chen, Yan Peng, Tao Yue, Shan Cao and Yuanyuan Liu

Micromachines 2021, 12(5), 532; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12050532 - 07 May 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1672

Abstract

The identification and treatment of androgen-independent prostate cancer are both challenging and significant. In this work, high-throughput deformability cytometry was employed to assess the effects of two anti-cancer drugs, docetaxel and enzalutamide, on androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cells (LNCaP) and androgen-independent prostate cancer cells [...] Read more.

The identification and treatment of androgen-independent prostate cancer are both challenging and significant. In this work, high-throughput deformability cytometry was employed to assess the effects of two anti-cancer drugs, docetaxel and enzalutamide, on androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cells (LNCaP) and androgen-independent prostate cancer cells (PC-3), respectively. The quantified results show that PC-3 and LNCaP present not only different intrinsic physical properties but also different physical responses to the same anti-cancer drug. PC-3 cells possess greater stiffness and a smaller size than LNCaP cells. As the docetaxel concentration increases, PC-3 cells present an increase in stiffness and size, but LNCaP cells only present an increase in stiffness. As the enzalutamide concentration increases, PC-3 cells present no physical changes but LNCaP cells present changes in both cell size and deformation. These results demonstrated that cellular physical properties quantified by the deformability cytometry are effective indicators for identifying the androgen-independent prostate cancer cells from androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cells and evaluating drug effects on these two types of prostate cancer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nano Robotics: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Toshio Fukuda)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 3067 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Development of Cultured Muscles with Tendon Structures for Modular Bio-Actuators

by Takuto Nomura, Masaru Takeuchi, Eunhye Kim, Qiang Huang, Yasuhisa Hasegawa and Toshio Fukuda

Micromachines 2021, 12(4), 379; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12040379 - 01 Apr 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2970

Abstract

In this article, we propose a new actuator named the modular bio-actuator (MBA). The MBA has two tendon structures made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) at both ends of the bio-actuator. The MBA can be easily handled and fixed on an artificial micro-robot body to [...] Read more.

In this article, we propose a new actuator named the modular bio-actuator (MBA). The MBA has two tendon structures made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) at both ends of the bio-actuator. The MBA can be easily handled and fixed on an artificial micro-robot body to increase its design flexibility and output power. The tendon structures were connected to a bio-actuator in the form of a chain structure, and the connection between the tendon structures and the bio-actuator was maintained for more than three weeks. The contraction length of the MBA was linearly increased when the DC voltage applied to the MBA was increased. The MBA contracted over 200 µm when a DC voltage of 10 V and 1 Hz was applied to the bio-actuator. The output power of the MBA was measured using a PDMS cantilever, and the total output power of the MBA increased linearly when multiple MBAs were stacked on a PDMS cantilever. This study was aimed at improving the design flexibility and controllability of micro-robots and bionic systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nano Robotics: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Toshio Fukuda)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 5793 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Versatile Optoelectronic Tweezer System for Micro-Objects Manipulation: Transportation, Patterning, Sorting, Rotating and Storage

by Shuzhang Liang, Yuqing Cao, Yuguo Dai, Fenghui Wang, Xue Bai, Bin Song, Chaonan Zhang, Chunyuan Gan, Fumihito Arai and Lin Feng

Micromachines 2021, 12(3), 271; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12030271 - 06 Mar 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3637

Abstract

Non-contact manipulation technology has a wide range of applications in the manipulation and fabrication of micro/nanomaterials. However, the manipulation devices are often complex, operated only by professionals, and limited by a single manipulation function. Here, we propose a simple versatile optoelectronic tweezer (OET) [...] Read more.

Non-contact manipulation technology has a wide range of applications in the manipulation and fabrication of micro/nanomaterials. However, the manipulation devices are often complex, operated only by professionals, and limited by a single manipulation function. Here, we propose a simple versatile optoelectronic tweezer (OET) system that can be easily controlled for manipulating microparticles with different sizes. In this work, we designed and established an optoelectronic tweezer manipulation system. The OET system could be used to manipulate particles with a wide range of sizes from 2 μm to 150 μm. The system could also manipulate micro-objects of different dimensions like 1D spherical polystyrene microspheres, 2D rod-shaped euglena gracilis, and 3D spiral microspirulina. Optical microscopic patterns for trapping, storing, parallel transporting, and patterning microparticles were designed for versatile manipulation. The sorting, rotation, and assembly of single particles in a given region were experimentally demonstrated. In addition, temperatures measured under different objective lenses indicate that the system does not generate excessive heat to damage bioparticles. The non-contact versatile manipulation reduces operating process and contamination. In future work, the simple optoelectronic tweezers system can be used to control non-contaminated cell interaction and micro-nano manipulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nano Robotics: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Toshio Fukuda)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 2981 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Piezoelectric Ultrasonic Biological Microdissection Device Based on a Novel Flexure Mechanism for Suppressing Vibration

by Haibo Huang, Yifan Pan, Yan Pang, Hao Shen, Xiwei Gao, Yichen Zhu, Liguo Chen and Lining Sun

Micromachines 2021, 12(2), 196; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12020196 - 13 Feb 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2151

Abstract

Biological microdissection has a wide range of applications in the field of molecular pathology. The current laser-assisted dissection technology is expensive. As an economical microdissection method, piezoelectric ultrasonic microdissection has broad application prospects. However, the performance of the current piezoelectric ultrasonic microdissection technology [...] Read more.

Biological microdissection has a wide range of applications in the field of molecular pathology. The current laser-assisted dissection technology is expensive. As an economical microdissection method, piezoelectric ultrasonic microdissection has broad application prospects. However, the performance of the current piezoelectric ultrasonic microdissection technology is unsatisfactory. This paper aims to solve the problems of the low dissecting precision and excessive wear of the dissecting needle caused by the harmful lateral vibration of the present piezoelectric ultrasonic microdissection device. A piezoelectric ultrasonic microdissection device based on a novel flexure mechanism is proposed. By analyzing the flexure hinge flexibility, the type of flexure beam and the optimal design parameters are determined. Through harmonic response simulation analysis, the newly designed microdissection device with a vibration-suppressing mechanism achieves the best vibration effect when the driving frequency is 28 kHz. Under this driving frequency, the lateral vibration suppression effect is improved by 68% compared to the traditional effect without vibration suppression. Then, based on 3D printing technology, a prototype of a novel microdissection device is produced, and its performance is tested. Experiments on dissecting needle vibration tests show that the flexure mechanism does indeed suppress the lateral vibration of the needle tip. We conducted various tissue dissection experiments on paraffin tissue sections. First, we determine the optimal dissecting parameters (driving voltage, frequency, feed speed, cutting angle) of the new equipment through various parameter dissecting experiments. Then, we adopt these optimal dissecting parameters to perform three kinds of dissecting experiments on mouse tissue paraffin section (liver, lung, bone), dissecting experiments on tissue sections of different thicknesses (3 μm, 4 μm, 5 μm), sampling and extraction experiments on complete tissue. The new device has a better dissecting performance for paraffin tissue sections below a 5 μm thickness and can complete various dissecting tasks. Finally, we compare the wear of the dissecting needles of the new and old devices after the same dissecting tasks. The results prove that the suppression of harmful lateral vibration not only significantly improves the dissecting effect but also increases the service life and durability of the dissecting needle, which is beneficial for reducing the equipment costs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nano Robotics: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Toshio Fukuda)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 2746 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling and Inverse Compensation of Cross-Coupling Hysteresis in Piezoceramics under Multi-Input

by Xiaochong Zhou, Lue Zhang, Zhan Yang and Lining Sun

Micromachines 2021, 12(1), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12010086 - 15 Jan 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1816

Abstract

In the fast tool servo (FTS) system for microstructure surface cutting, the dynamic voltage hysteresis of piezoelectric actuators (PEAs) and the cutting force produced in the manufacturing affect the driving accuracy and the cutting performance. For a multi-input-single-output (MISO) cutting system, in this [...] Read more.

In the fast tool servo (FTS) system for microstructure surface cutting, the dynamic voltage hysteresis of piezoelectric actuators (PEAs) and the cutting force produced in the manufacturing affect the driving accuracy and the cutting performance. For a multi-input-single-output (MISO) cutting system, in this paper, a dynamic hysteresis model based on a rate-dependent Prandtl–Ishlinskii model is proposed. A backpropagation neural network (BPNN) is established to describe the cross-coupling effect between the applied voltage and external load. An inverse dynamic model is developed to compensate the nonlinearity of PEAs. The accuracy of the model and its inverse is discussed and the performance of the inverse feedforward compensator is validated through experiments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nano Robotics: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Toshio Fukuda)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

29 pages, 2944 KiB

Open AccessReview

Tethered and Untethered 3D Microactuators Fabricated by Two-Photon Polymerization: A Review

by Zhaoxin Lao, Neng Xia, Shijie Wang, Tiantian Xu, Xinyu Wu and Li Zhang

Micromachines 2021, 12(4), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12040465 - 20 Apr 2021

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 5558

Abstract

Microactuators, which can transform external stimuli into mechanical motion at microscale, have attracted extensive attention because they can be used to construct microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and/or microrobots, resulting in extensive applications in a large number of fields such as noninvasive surgery, targeted delivery, [...] Read more.

Microactuators, which can transform external stimuli into mechanical motion at microscale, have attracted extensive attention because they can be used to construct microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and/or microrobots, resulting in extensive applications in a large number of fields such as noninvasive surgery, targeted delivery, and biomedical machines. In contrast to classical 2D MEMS devices, 3D microactuators provide a new platform for the research of stimuli-responsive functional devices. However, traditional planar processing techniques based on photolithography are inadequate in the construction of 3D microstructures. To solve this issue, researchers have proposed many strategies, among which 3D laser printing is becoming a prospective technique to create smart devices at the microscale because of its versatility, adjustability, and flexibility. Here, we review the recent progress in stimulus-responsive 3D microactuators fabricated with 3D laser printing depending on different stimuli. Then, an outlook of the design, fabrication, control, and applications of 3D laser-printed microactuators is propounded with the goal of providing a reference for related research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nano Robotics: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Toshio Fukuda)

► Show Figures