ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Magnetically Driven Micro and Nanorobots | JoVE Visualize

Home
Research Domains
Engineering

Magnetically Driven Micro and Nanorobots

Huaijuan Zhou¹, Carmen C Mayorga-Martinez¹, Salvador Pané²

¹Center for Advanced Functional Nanorobots, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technicka 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic.

Chemical Reviews|March 31, 2021

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

Magnetic micro/nanorobots (MagRobots) offer versatile, fuel-free control for microscale manipulation. This review covers their fundamental concepts, actuation, fabrication, and diverse applications, highlighting future perspectives.

Area of Science:

Robotics
Biotechnology
Materials Science

Background:

Micro and nanoswimmers can be controlled using chemicals, external fields, or biological cells.
Magnetic fields are favored for actuation due to remote control, fuel-free operation, and programmability.

Purpose of the Study:

To review fundamental concepts, advantages, and applications of magnetic micro/nanorobots (MagRobots).
To discuss magnetic field interactions, actuation mechanisms, fabrication techniques, and diverse applications of MagRobots.

Main Methods:

Review of literature on magnetic fields, magnetic materials, and manipulation setups.
Discussion of symmetry-breaking strategies for effective movement.
Exploration of actuation mechanisms including flagella-inspired and surface-walker models.

Main Results:

Magnetic fields enable precise control over micro/nanorobots for various tasks.
Diverse fabrication techniques exist for different MagRobot designs (spherical, helical, flexible, etc.).
MagRobots have applications in drug delivery, surgery, environmental remediation, and sensing.

Conclusions:

Magnetic micro/nanorobots are a promising technology with broad applications.
Further research is needed to address current challenges and advance magnetically powered miniaturized motors.

Control Engineering, Mechatronics And Robotics

Micro-manipulation

Magnetically Driven Micro And Nanorobots