Helical Swimming Microrobots

A number of robotic swimming methods have been proposed at relatively small scales. These methods often rely on reciprocating motions, which will suffer from scaling effects as they are reduced in size. Another approach is to take inspiration from biological systems and fabricate helical propellers that mimic bacterial flagella.

The helical swimming robot consists of two parts: a helical body and a soft-magnetic metal head stacked by 180-200nm thick Cr/Ni/Au thin films. By adjusting the rotating speed and direction of the magnetic field, velocity and direction of motion of the helical swimmer can be tuned in a controlled fashion.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Microrobot
• micro-robot
• flagella