Integrated 3D printed microfluidic circuitry and soft microrobotic actuators via in situ direct laser writing
Integrated 3D printed microfluidic circuitry and soft microrobotic actuators via in situ direct laser writing
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DOI：
10.1088/1361-6439/abec1c
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发表时间：
2021-04-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Sochol, Ryan D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alsharhan, Abdullah T.;Young, Olivia;Sochol, Ryan D.
在过去的二十年中，研究人员已经开发并采用了集成微流体电路，以实现广泛的化学和生物“芯片实验室”功能。然而近年来，一个完全不同的领域——软机器人技术，已经开始利用微流体电路作为增强软机器人自主性的有希望的手段。不幸的是，不仅与微流体电路的制造相关的关键挑战，而且与微流体电路与软机器人系统的集成相关的关键挑战也是进步的关键障碍。为了克服这些问题，我们在这里提出了一种策略，利用“原位直接激光写入（isDLW）”——我们团队之前开发的一种亚微米级增材制造（或“三维（3D）打印”）方法——直接在封闭的微通道内部制造微流体电路元件和软微机器人执行器。此外，我们还引入了“常闭”微流体晶体管，该晶体管包含自由浮动的密封盘，旨在阻止源极到漏极的流体流动，直到施加目标闸门压力。作为示例，我们打印了具有不同栅极激活特性的微流体晶体管，以及在 40 μm 高的微通道内每个漏极下游的相同软微夹具。 100 kPa 源压力的实验结果表明，在没有闸门输入的情况下，可以防止微夹具变形；然而，将闸门压力增加到 300 kPa 会导致一组微夹具启动，而进一步增加到 400 kPa 则会导致两组微夹具成功启动。这些结果表明，所提出的基于 isDLW 的制造和集成 3D 微流体电路元件和微机器人末端执行器的策略可以为新兴软机器人应用提供独特的潜力。
Over the past two decades, researchers have advanced and employed integrated microfluidic circuitry to enable a wide range of chemical and biological 'lab-on-a-chip' capabilities. Yet in recent years, a wholly different field, soft robotics, has begun harnessing microfluidic circuitry as a promising means to enhance soft robot autonomy. Unfortunately, key challenges associated with not only the fabrication of microfluidic circuitry, but also its integration with soft robotic systems represent critical barriers to progress. To overcome such issues, here we present a strategy that leverages 'in situ direct laser writing (isDLW)'-a submicron-scale additive manufacturing (or 'three-dimensional (3D) printing') approach developed previously by our group-to fabricate microfluidic circuit elements and soft microrobotic actuators directly inside of enclosed microchannels. In addition, we introduce 'normally closed' microfluidic transistors that comprise free-floating sealing discs designed to block source-to-drain fluid flow until the application of a target gate pressure. As an exemplar, we printed microfluidic transistors with distinct gate activation properties as well as identical soft microgrippers downstream of each drain within 40 mu m-tall microchannels. Experimental results for a source pressure of 100 kPa revealed that microgripper deformation was prevented in the absence of a gate input; however, increasing the gate pressure to 300 kPa induced actuation of one set of microgrippers, while a further increase to 400 kPa led to both sets of microgrippers actuating successfully. These results suggest that the presented isDLW-based strategy for manufacturing and integrating 3D microfluidic circuit elements and microrobotic end effectors could offer unique potential for emerging soft robotic applications.