A Review of Microrobot’s System: Towards System Integration for Autonomous Actuation In Vivo

Abstract

Microrobots have received great attention due to their great potential in the biomedical field, and there has been extraordinary progress on them in many respects, making it possible to use them in vivo clinically. However, the most important question is how to get microrobots to a given position accurately. Therefore, autonomous actuation technology based on medical imaging has become the solution receiving the most attention considering its low precision and efficiency of manual control. This paper investigates key components of microrobot’s autonomous actuation systems, including actuation systems, medical imaging systems, and control systems, hoping to help realize system integration of them. The hardware integration has two situations according to sharing the transmitting equipment or not, with the consideration of interference, efficiency, microrobot’s material and structure. Furthermore, system integration of hybrid actuation and multimodal imaging can improve the navigation effect of the microrobot. The software integration needs to consider the characteristics and deficiencies of the existing actuation algorithms, imaging algorithms, and the complex 3D working environment in vivo. Additionally, considering the moving distance in the human body, the autonomous actuation system combined with rapid delivery methods can deliver microrobots to specify position rapidly and precisely.

Power Losses Models for Magnetic Cores: A Review

“…Microrobots’ actuation system require input energy to act it, which usually requires special materials (soft and hard magnetic materials) or structural design (arrangement of coils) [ 167 , 168 ]. While the propulsion of microrobots, ferromagnetic cores and magnetic structures can be used to generate an image of many sites in the human body [ 169 , 170 , 171 ].…”

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound tracking of helical propellers with acoustic phase analysis and comparison with color Doppler

“… 2 Several strategies have been proposed to remotely actuate untethered MRs, exploiting different external stimuli including electromagnetic radiation (e.g., light, x rays), chemical reactions, ultrasound, and magnetic fields. 3 Among these, the latter is arguably the most widely adopted due to its intrinsic safety and high controllability. 4 …”

Microrobots for Targeted Delivery and Therapy in Digestive System

“…Self-propelled microrobots are powered by the conversion of chemical or biochemical energy into mechanical motion. − They are usually divided into two categories, one is self-propelled by concentration gradients (chemotaxis) produced by catalytic reactions, the other one is driven based on bubble generation induced by the reaction of “the motor” with the environmental biofuel. − In the case of asymmetric shape, composition or catalyst distribution, the micronano motor is propelled by bubble recoil mechanisms, self-diffusiophoresis or self-electrophoresis, as schematically showed in Figure . Therefore, attention should be paid to the structural design of the self-propelled robots and the reacting substances that act as chemical fuels.…”