Abstract
Manipulation of small-scale matter is a fundamental topic in micro and nanorobotics. Numerous magnetic robotic systems have been developed for the manipulation of microparticles in an ambient environment, liquid, as well as on the air-liquid interface. These systems move intrinsically magnetic or magnetically tagged objects by inducing a magnetic torque or force. However, most of the materials found in nature are nonmagnetic. Here, we report a ferrofluidic manipulator for automatic 2-D manipulation of nonmagnetic objects floating on top of a ferrofluid. The manipulation system employs 8-cm-scale solenoids, which can move nonmagnetic particles by deforming the air-ferrofluid interface. Using linear programming, we can control the motion of the nonmagnetic particles with a predefined trajectory of a line, square, and circle with a precision of 25.1 ± 19.5, 34.4 ± 28.4, and 33.4 ± 26.6 μm, respectively. The ferrofluidic manipulator is versatile with the materials and the shapes of the objects under manipulation. We have successfully manipulated particles made of polyethylene, polystyrene, a silicon chip, and poppy and sesame seeds. This article shows a promising venue for the manipulation of living and nonliving matter at the air-liquid interface.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 9437980 |
Pages (from-to) | 1932-1940 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2021 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- Ferrofluid
- Magnetic fields
- Magnetic liquids
- Manipulators
- micro-electro-mechanical systems
- smart material-based devices
- soft robotics systems
- Solenoids
- Strain
- Trajectory