TY - JOUR
T1 - Ferrofluidic Manipulator
T2 - Automatic manipulation of nonmagnetic microparticles at the air-ferrofluid interface
AU - Cenev, Zoran
AU - Harischandra, P. A. Diluka
AU - Nurmi, Seppo
AU - Latikka, Mika
AU - Hyninen, Ville
AU - Ras, Robin H.A.
AU - Timonen, Jaakko V.I.
AU - Zhou, Quan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
CCBY
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Ferrofluid
KW - Magnetic fields
KW - Magnetic liquids
KW - Manipulators
KW - micro-electro-mechanical systems
KW - smart material-based devices
KW - soft robotics systems
KW - Solenoids
KW - Strain
KW - Trajectory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107220371&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TMECH.2021.3081114
DO - 10.1109/TMECH.2021.3081114
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107220371
SN - 1083-4435
VL - 26
SP - 1932
EP - 1940
JO - IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
JF - IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
IS - 4
M1 - 9437980
ER -