Magneto-Elastic Characterization for Multi-Material Micro-Robotics

我们有机会在快速发展的医用微型机器人领域保持领先地位，但前提是我们能够超越目前用于厘米级抓取、切割和采样机器人机制的次优材料和结构。我的团队开创了一种新方法，利用磁场无线驱动体内的微型机器人。这些微型机器人由厘米级抓取、切割和取样机器人机构组成，由嵌入式磁铁驱动，磁铁通过柔性铰链连接。这些微型机器人机构的设计不能通过直觉来完成，因此必须通过对机构部件的磁性和弹性特性的理解来指导。我们的定制设计和制造方法在手术、胃肠道采样和其他应用中显示出了良好的前景，但由于我们目前没有了解我们的材料和设计所需的表征工具，因此其强度、灵活性、可靠性和精度都达不到其潜力。所要求的拉力测试仪和磁力计设置将使我们能够充分了解我们独特的微型机器人性能，以及满足这些微型机器人在人体中真实的应用的苛刻要求所需的条件。

We have an opportunity to remain as leaders in the fast-growing field of Medical Microrobotics, but only if we are able to move beyond our current sub-optimal materials and structures used in centimeter-scale grasping, cutting and sampling robotic mechanisms. My group has pioneered a novel approach to use magnetic fields to wirelessly drive tiny robots in the body. These microrobots consist of centimeter-scale grasping, cutting and sampling robotic mechanisms, driven by embedded magnets connected by flexible hinges. Design of these microrobotic mechanisms cannot be done by intuition, and thus must be guided by understanding of the magnetic and elastic properties of the mechanism components. Our custom design and fabrication methods have been able to show promise in surgery, gastrointestinal sampling and other applications, but the strength, dexterity, reliability and precision fall short of their potential because we currently do not have the characterization tools needed to understand our materials and designs. The requested tensile tester and magnetometer setup will allow us to develop a full understanding of our unique microrobot performance, and what will be required to meet the demanding requirements of these microrobots for real applications in the human body.