Heterogeneous multiple soft millirobots in three-dimensional lumens

Miniature soft robots offer opportunities for safe and physically adaptive medical interventions in hard-to-reach regions. Deploying multiple robots could further enhance the efficacy and multifunctionality of these operations. However, multirobot deployment in physiologically relevant three-dimensional (3D) tubular structures is limited by the lack of effective mechanisms for independent control of miniature magnetic soft robots. This work presents a framework leveraging the shape-adaptive robotic design and heterogeneous resistance from robot-lumen interactions to enable magnetic multirobot control. We first compute influence and actuation regions to quantify robot movement. Subsequently, a path planning algorithm generates the trajectory of a permanent magnet for multirobot navigation in 3D lumens. Last, robots are controlled individually in multilayer lumen networks under medical imaging. Demonstrations of multilocation cargo delivery and flow diversion manifest their potential to enhance biomedical functions. This framework offers a solution to multirobot actuation benefiting applications across different miniature robotic devices in complex environments.

Design and Control of the Magnetically Actuated Micro/Nanorobot Swarm toward Biomedical Applications

Recently, magnetically actuated micro/nanorobots hold extensive promises in biomedical applications due to their advantages of noninvasiveness, fuel-free operation, and programmable nature. While effectively promised in various fields such as targeted delivery, most past investigations are mainly displayed in magnetic control of individual micro/nanorobots. Facing practical medical use, the micro/nanorobots are required for the development of swarm control in a closed-loop control manner. This review outlines the recent developments in magnetic micro/nanorobot swarms, including their actuating fundamentals, designs, controls, and biomedical applications. The fundamental principles and interactions involved in the formation of magnetic micro/nanorobot swarms are discussed first. The recent advances in the design of artificial and biohybrid micro/nanorobot swarms, along with the control devices and methods used for swarm manipulation, are presented. Furthermore, biomedical applications that have the potential to achieve clinical application are introduced, such as imaging-guided therapy, targeted delivery, embolization, and biofilm eradication. By addressing the potential challenges discussed toward the end of this review, magnetic micro/nanorobot swarms hold promise for clinical treatments in the future.

Automated group motion control of magnetically actuated millirobots

Small-size robots offer access to spaces that are inaccessible to larger ones. This type of access is crucial in applications such as drug delivery, environmental detection, and collection of small samples. However, there are some tasks that are not possible to perform using only one robot including assembly and manufacturing at small scales, manipulation of micro- and nano- objects, and robot-based structuring of small-scale materials. In this article, we focus on tasks that can be achieved using a group of small-scale robots like pattern formation. These robots are typically externally actuated due to their size limitation. Yet, one faces the challenge of controlling a group of robots using a single global input. In this study, we propose a control algorithm to position individual members of a group in predefined positions. In our previous work, we presented a small-scaled magnetically actuated millirobot. An electromagnetic coil system applied external force and steered the millirobots in various modes of motion such as pivot walking and tumbling. In this paper, we propose two new designs of these millirobots. In the first design, the magnets are placed at the center of body to reduce the magnetic attraction force between the millirobots. In the second design, the millirobots are of identical length with two extra legs acting as the pivot points and varying pivot separation in design to take advantage of variable speed in pivot walking mode while keeping the speed constant in tumbling mode. This paper presents an algorithm for positional control of n millirobots with different lengths to move them from given initial positions to final desired ones. This method is based on choosing a leader that is fully controllable. Then, the motions of other millirobots are regulated by following the leader and determining their appropriate pivot separations in order to implement the intended group motion. Simulations and hardware experiments validate these results.

A Feasibility Study of In Vivo Control and Tracking of Microrobot Using Taxicab Geometry for Direct Drug Targeting

In vivo direct drug targeting aims at delivering drug molecules loaded on microrobots to the diseased site using the shortest possible physiological routes, which potentially improves targeting efficiency and reduces systemic toxicity. It is thus essential to consider realistic in-body limitations for direct drug targeting applications. Here, we present a novel controller for microrobot maneuver by considering four key in vivo constraints: non-Euclidean structure of capillaries, irreversibility of blood flow, invisibility of microvasculature, and inaccuracy of microrobot tracking. We use the taxicab geometry of capillaries as the a priori knowledge for steering and tracking a microrobot in lattice-like vessels. Furthermore, we introduce a minimax repulsive boundary function to prevent the microrobot from getting too close to the boundaries imposed by the direction of blood flow. We also propose a novel Kalman filtering algorithm to reduce tracking error, while avoiding possible obstacles such as vessel walls without knowing their actual locations. The proposed control method consists of four modules, namely a model predictive control module for tumor targeting, a Kalman filtering module for microrobot tracking, a blind obstacle detection module, and a vessel structure estimation module. The interplay of these four modules offers successful maneuver and tracking of the microrobot while avoiding obstacles in a blind manner by utilizing the taxicab geometry of blood vessels. We present a comprehensive in silico simulation study to verify our designed controller.

Real-Time Magnetic Navigation of a Rotating Colloidal Microswarm Under Ultrasound Guidance

OBJECTIVE

Untethered microrobots hold great promise for applications in biomedical field including targeted delivery, biosensing, and microsurgery. A major challenge of using microrobots to perform in vivo tasks is the real-time localization and motion control using medical imaging technologies. Here we report real-time magnetic navigation of a paramagnetic nanoparticle-based microswarm under ultrasound guidance.

METHODS

A three-axis Helmholtz electromagnetic coil system integrated with an ultrasound imaging system is developed for generation, actuation, and closed-loop control of the microswarm. The magnetite nanoparticle-based microswarm is generated and navigated using rotating magnetic fields. In order to localize the microswarm in real time, the dynamic imaging contrast has been analyzed and exploited in image process to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Moreover, imaging of the microswarm at different depths are experimentally studied and analyzed, and the minimal dose of nanoparticles for localizing a microswarm at different depths is ex vivo investigated. For real-time navigating the microswarm in a confined environment, a PI control scheme is designed.

RESULTS

Image differencing-based processing increases the signal-to-noise ratio, and the microswarm can be ex vivo localized at depth of 2.2-7.8 cm. Experimental results show that the microswarm is able to be real-time navigated along a planned path in a channel, and the average steady-state error is 0.27 mm (  ∼ 33.7% of the body length).

SIGNIFICANCE

The colloidal microswarm is real-time localized and navigated using ultrasound feedback, which shows great potential for biomedical applications that require real-time noninvasive tracking.