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Micromachines
Special Issues
Recent Study and Progress in Micro/Nanorobots
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Recent Study and Progress in Micro/Nanorobots

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 2501

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Fangzhou Xia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78705, USA
Interests: micro/nanorobotics; intelligent mechatronics; precision instrumentation; medical devices; automation
Prof. Dr. Riko Šafarič

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 46, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: nano/micro-precise robots; mobile robots; teleoperated robots; grippers for nano/micro-precise robot mechanisms

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During Dr. Richard Feynman’s famous talk introducing the concept of nanotechnology over 60 years ago, several fascinating ideas were introduced, such as “swallowing the surgeon” during internal medical treatments and “a hundred tiny hands”, working in parallel at the nanoscale. Since then, researchers have pushed the boundary of nanotechnology and utilized scaling effects to develop micro/nanorobots with novel sensing and actuation principles. With limited resources and constrained space, physical intelligence plays an important role alongside computational intelligence. As miniaturization continues to revolutionize robotics, breakthroughs in the actuation, control, fabrication, and application of micro/nanoscale robots are shaping the future of medicine, manufacturing, and environmental monitoring.

This Special Issue welcomes original work manuscripts and review articles focusing on the technology enabling micro/nanorobots and their practical applications. Being able to manipulate and characterize matter at a miniaturized scale opens great possibilities for making scientific discoveries and creating practically useful devices. From a fundamental understanding of nanoscale processes and the development of nanofabrication equipment, efforts in the design and realization of next-generation micro/nanorobots are highly valued. Investigations of practical applications of micro/nanorobots benefitting society are also strongly encouraged.

Dr. Fangzhou Xia
Prof. Dr. Riko Šafarič
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • miniaturized robot design and fabrication
  • precision instruments for nanotechnology
  • novel transducers for sensing/actuation
  • MEMS devices in micro/nanorobotics
  • smart material and physical intelligence
  • control and estimation at the micro/nanoscale
  • data-driven motion control on the nanoscale
  • nanoscale fabrication and characterization
  • swarm and collective behavior
  • nano/microrobots for biomedical applications

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 16789 KB  
Article
One-Finger Gripper for Microobjects to Submillimeter-Sized Objects Based on Temperatures of Dew and Freezing Points
by Božidar Bratina, Dušan Fister, Jernej Nezman, Jakob Šafarič and Riko Šafarič
Micromachines 2026, 17(5), 573; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17050573 - 5 May 2026
Viewed by 294
Abstract
The new method proposed in this study, featuring a one-finger gripper, uses three types of forces—van der Waals force, capillary force, and coupling force due to ice—to grip and release microobjects to submillimeter-sized objects (5 to 300 µm). The gravitational force of an [...] Read more.
The new method proposed in this study, featuring a one-finger gripper, uses three types of forces—van der Waals force, capillary force, and coupling force due to ice—to grip and release microobjects to submillimeter-sized objects (5 to 300 µm). The gravitational force of an object can be neglected in the case of microobjects, but this is not the case for submillimeter-sized objects. This is the first reason that we use the coupling force due to ice; the second reason is that the shape of a micro- or submillimeter-sized object does not matter in this case. The usage of all three forces yields greater versatility regarding objects of different sizes and shapes and, consequently, greater overall reliability in gripping or releasing compared with methods that use only one or two of the mentioned forces. In this study, the laboratory set-up involved the active control of the temperature for both the one-finger gripper and the releasing surface for objects from −25 °C to 40 °C in a closed dust-free chamber in atmospheric air at relative humidity (RH) = 30%. A relatively low RH was achieved with the RH controller, enabling the release or grip procedures to last approx. 2–3 s for microobjects and 6 s for submillimeter-sized objects with the same equipment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Study and Progress in Micro/Nanorobots)
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29 pages, 14804 KB  
Article
Compliant Glass Mechanism Instrumented with a Bragg Grating to Measure Indentation Force
by Manon Marchandise, Adam Chafai, Christophe Caucheteur and Pierre Lambert
Micromachines 2026, 17(5), 572; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17050572 (registering DOI) - 5 May 2026
Viewed by 261
Abstract
This paper presents a force sensor made of a compliant glass mechanism instrumented with a waveguide and a Bragg grating, measuring the reflected wavelength shift produced by the strain in the compliant element generated by the applied force. The compliant element geometry and [...] Read more.
This paper presents a force sensor made of a compliant glass mechanism instrumented with a waveguide and a Bragg grating, measuring the reflected wavelength shift produced by the strain in the compliant element generated by the applied force. The compliant element geometry and material have been chosen for the sensor to be spliced or manufactured at the extremity of an optical fiber, enabling possible insertion of the instrument in the bronchial tree after embedding in a proper catheter. The context of this research is the mechanical discrimination between healthy and cancerous lung tissues based on their mechanical signature. The paper proposes a comprehensive study including the mechanical design of the structure and the optimization of the production parameters, thanks to an experimental parametric study. After experimental characterization of the mechanism stiffness, the optical response to a mechanical force is reproduced with two different samples on two different days (more than 25 repetitions). The conclusion is that a fair linear and repeatable response is observed (±26 mN) for forces ranging from 0 to 250 mN. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Study and Progress in Micro/Nanorobots)
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20 pages, 3857 KB  
Article
Collective Magnetic Mesoporous Silica Nanorobots for Targeted Oral Capsaicin Delivery in Colitis Intervention
by Hongyue Zhang, Yuzhu Di, Lubo Jin, Shuai Yang, Zesheng Li and Bo Qu
Micromachines 2026, 17(2), 272; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17020272 - 22 Feb 2026
Viewed by 672
Abstract
Magnetic nanoparticles, with their excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, serve as ideal materials for constructing targeted drug delivery systems. Iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles, controllably prepared via methods such as solvothermal synthesis, can be combined with mesoporous silica to construct magnetically [...] Read more.
Magnetic nanoparticles, with their excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, serve as ideal materials for constructing targeted drug delivery systems. Iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles, controllably prepared via methods such as solvothermal synthesis, can be combined with mesoporous silica to construct magnetically steerable nanorobots. Such robots enable efficient drug loading and precise delivery. To address challenges in the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), including the significant side effects of systemic drugs and the low oral bioavailability and poor colonic targeting of novel food-derived drugs (e.g., capsaicin with anti-inflammatory activity), this study designed capsaicin-loaded iron oxide-mesoporous silica composite nanorobots (Cap-M@mSbots). Driven by a rotating gradient magnetic field of up to 80 mT, Cap-M@mSbots achieve large-scale emergent collective locomotion, with a maximum collective locomotion velocity reaching 180.7 μm/s, and are capable of long-distance movement overcoming millimeter-scale obstacles. This system can be actively propelled to colonic lesion sites under magnetic guidance, achieving targeted drug enrichment and sustained release, thereby offering a novel strategy for the targeted therapy of IBD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Study and Progress in Micro/Nanorobots)
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