Transparent Magnetic Soft Millirobot Actuated by Micro‐Node Array

Abstract

Magnetic soft millirobots have attracted emerging interest in many fields owing to their superiorities in effective and remote controllable actuation by a magnetic field. However, limited to the embedded magnetic particles, magnetic soft robots usually exhibit dark to black colors, leading to the sheltering of the environment and target during locomotion, manipulation, and transportation. Here, a method of constructing a transparent magnetic millirobot with an actuatable micro‐node array is presented. Owing to the micro‐node design and high‐transparency body materials, the robot can achieve a high transmittance of ≈80%. The robot possesses remote‐controllable locomotion and obstacle‐crossing capabilities, such as crawling through a limited area (height: 600 µm) and crossing over an obstacle (height: 1 mm) that is about five times higher than itself. Moreover, the robot demonstrates optical transparent property against the changing environment, such as chessboard and rainbow‐colored backgrounds. Lastly, the locomotion and camouflage capability of the robot are demonstrated on sand, where the robot moves 23 mm in 59 s on the irregular sandy surface. This design strategy can be broadened to a wide range of fields, including but not limited to robots for battlefield, biomedical treatment, and environmental reconnaissance, and will benefit the development of the next generation of smart robots.

Recent Progress on the Development of Magnetically‐Responsive Micropillars: Actuation, Fabrication, and Applications

“…Compared to the swimming microrobot in a fluid environment, the micropillars for the climbing robot have to be stronger enough to support the robot's body. [139,153] The crawling locomotion of millipedes provides the prototype for the magnetic pillar robots. In the fabrication process, the magnetic micropillars are usually supported by a resin substrate while the microrobot can be obtained by inverting the substrate with magnetic micropillars.…”

Data‐Driven Navigation of Ferromagnetic Soft Continuum Robots Based on Machine Learning

“…[7,8] Among them, ferromagnetic soft continuum robots (FCSRs) have attracted much attention recently due to their passability to tissues and organs, rapid and accurate adjustability, and remote controllability in confined spaces. [9][10][11][12] The magnetic soft materials [12][13][14] take elastomers or hydrogel as the matrix and combine it with magnetic microparticles, which can easily construct small-scale soft robotic systems with small surface friction and therefore holds great potential in biomedical applications.…”

Sonochemical Approach of Highly Thermal, Mechanical, and Corrosion Inhibition Performance of Metal–Organic Framework (ZIF‐8)‐Decorated Waterborne Polyurethane Nanocomposite

“…[ 2 ] Despite of excellent properties of WPU including high hardness, nontoxicity, and superior processability, [ 4 ] the low mechanical and thermal properties, weak mechanical strength, poor adhesion strength, and solvent resistance could step down their real practical applications. [ 5 ] Therefore, the various types of nanofillers including 1) carbon‐based nanomaterials such as graphene, carbon nanotubes/multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs/MWCNTs), [2d,6] (metal–organic frameworks [MOFs]), [ 7 ] and carbon black; [ 8 ] 2) carbides/nitrides (MXenes) base nanomaterials including Ti 3 C 2 T x /S‐CNTs, [ 9 ] Ti 3 C 2 T x /CNTs, [ 10 ] and BP‐Ti 3 C 2 ; [ 11 ] 3) oxide‐based nanomaterials such as CaCO 3 , [ 12 ] Al 2 O 3 , [ 13 ] SnO 2 , [ 14 ] SiO 2 , [ 15 ] Fe 3 O 4 , [ 16 ] magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), [ 17 ] alpha ZrP, [ 18 ] and GOSI; [ 19 ] 4) superparamagnetic‐based nanomaterials such as Ni–Zn ferrite; [ 20 ] and 5) other castor oil, [5b] Ce‐MMT, [ 21 ] PEDOT:PSS, [ 22 ] and EMIM:DCA [2e] have been reported with WPU matrix to address the pristine WPU limitations. Though the various conventional synthesis methods, including solvothermal, hydrothermal, and so on, are reported for the synthesis of different fillers and WPU‐based nanocomposites, their harsh reaction condition and scarcity could step down their usability and practical applications which could not meet the industrial requirements.…”