Engineering Ultrasound Fields to Power Medical Micro/Nanorobots

Leal-Estrada, Mariana; Valdez‐Garduño, Miguel; Soto, Fernando; García‐Gradilla, Víctor

doi:10.1007/s43154-020-00033-2

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…The first challenge is how to make a nanoscale object move autonomously in water (or in an aqueous solution), which is surprisingly viscous to a nanoswimmer. The answer lies in different propulsion mechanisms, such as those relying on body twisting, − a chemical gradient, ,− or ultrasound. − These propulsion mechanisms are different from those that work efficiently with macroscopic machines. Finding the right materials to endow these properties and constructing nanoscopic objects of appropriate shapes and asymmetry present significant challenges.…”

Section: The Two Principal Challenges Of Nanoswimmer Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Practical Guide to Analyzing and Reporting the Movement of Nanoscale Swimmers

Wang

2021

ACS Nano

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The recent invention of nanoswimmerssynthetic, powered objects with characteristic lengths in the range of 10–500 nmhas sparked widespread interest among scientists and the general public. As more researchers from different backgrounds enter the field, the study of nanoswimmers offers new opportunities but also significant experimental and theoretical challenges. In particular, the accurate characterization of nanoswimmers is often hindered by strong Brownian motion, convective effects, and the lack of a clear way to visualize them. When coupled with improper experimental designs and imprecise practices in data analysis, these issues can translate to results and conclusions that are inconsistent and poorly reproducible. This Perspective follows the course of a typical nanoswimmer investigation from synthesis through to applications and offers suggestions for best practices in reporting experimental details, recording videos, plotting trajectories, calculating and analyzing mobility, eliminating drift, and performing control experiments, in order to improve the reliability of the reported results.

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Section: The Two Principal Challenges Of Nanoswimmer Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Practical Guide to Analyzing and Reporting the Movement of Nanoscale Swimmers

Wang

2021

ACS Nano

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“…The detailed categories, application scenarios, advantages, and limitations of different actuation methods have been comprehensively summarized by many researchers. Readers can refer to review articles [2,34,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] and corresponding research articles given in Table 1 for more technical content.…”

Section: Open-loop Control Of Microrobots 21 Actuation Strategies Of ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Control and Autonomy of Microrobots: Recent Progress and Perspective

Jiang

Yang

Ferreira

et al. 2022

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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After decades of development, microrobots have exhibited great application potential in the biomedical field, such as minimally invasive surgery, drug delivery, and bio‐sensing. Compared with conventional medical robotic systems, microrobots may be capable of reaching more narrow and vulnerable regions in the human body with minimal damage. However, limited by the small scale of microrobots, microprocessors, power supplies, and sensors can hardly be integrated on‐board. Thus, new strategies for the actuation and feedback for microrobots need to be explored. Furthermore, the open‐loop control method accomplished by operators may lack accuracy, and long‐duration operation could bring a severe physical challenge in many applications. Consequently, the automatic control of microrobots with the aid of control theories is developed to improve the control efficiency and precision. To further promote the automation level of microrobots, machine learning algorithms are expected to provide a solution to let microrobots adapt to more dynamic environments and undertake more complex medical tasks. Herein, a systematic introduction of the manipulation of microrobots from open‐loop to closed‐loop control is given in this review. It is envisioned that microrobots will play an important role in future biomedical applications.

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“…Ultrasound is a relatively recent approach that has been applied to propel micro- and nanorobots [ 50 •]. Basically, standing waves, traveling waves, single beam, or arbitrary wave fields can be used to effectively manipulate small-scale objects, including biological structures [ 51 ].…”

Section: Propulsion Of Micro- and Nanoscale Robotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Powering and Fabrication of Small-Scale Robotics Systems

Wendel‐Garcia

Belce²,

Chen

et al. 2021

Curr Robot Rep

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Purpose of Review The increasing number of contributions in the field of small-scale robotics is significantly associated with the progress in material science and process engineering during the last half century. With the objective of integrating the most optimal materials for the propulsion of these motile micro- and nanosystems, several manufacturing strategies have been adopted or specifically developed. This brief review covers some recent advances in materials and fabrication of small-scale robots with a focus on the materials serving as components for their motion and actuation. Recent Findings Integration of a wealth of materials is now possible in several micro- and nanorobotic designs owing to the advances in micro- and nanofabrication and chemical synthesis. Regarding light-driven swimmers, novel photocatalytic materials and deformable liquid crystal elastomers have been recently reported. Acoustic swimmers are also gaining attention, with several prominent examples of acoustic bubble-based 3D swimmers being recently reported. Magnetic micro- and nanorobots are increasingly investigated for their prospective use in biomedical applications. The adoption of different materials and novel fabrication strategies based on 3D printing, template-assisted electrodeposition, or electrospinning is briefly discussed. Summary A brief review on fabrication and powering of small-scale robotics is presented. First, a concise introduction to the world of small-scale robotics and their propulsion by means of magnetic fields, ultrasound, and light is provided. Recent examples of materials and fabrication methodologies for the realization of these devices follow thereafter.

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Engineering Ultrasound Fields to Power Medical Micro/Nanorobots

Cited by 20 publications

References 61 publications

A Practical Guide to Analyzing and Reporting the Movement of Nanoscale Swimmers

A Practical Guide to Analyzing and Reporting the Movement of Nanoscale Swimmers

Control and Autonomy of Microrobots: Recent Progress and Perspective

Powering and Fabrication of Small-Scale Robotics Systems

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