Magnetic soft robots are systems that can change shape or perform different actions when a magnetic field is applied to them. These robots have many advantageous features, including wireless drive, high flexibility and unlimited endurance extension.
In the future, micro-magneto-soft robots can be applied in various environments. For example, helping humans monitor the environment, or remotely perform biomedical procedures. However, most of the systems developed to date can only perform simple tasks and take on limited shapes.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have recently designed a new technique for creating magnetic soft robots with programmable shapes. They create new robots based on magnetic pixels that can change shape and perform various actions or tasks.
Whether based on soft or hard magnetic materials, the magnetization process of most soft robots is integrated with its manufacturing process, the researchers said. In other words, the robot cannot be programmed to reconfigure functions like a traditional robot with a control unit. That means magneto-soft robots are still a long way from being used in real-world environments.
The researchers introduced a new method to create magnetic soft robots that can be repeatedly programmed. The key principle behind this approach is to wrap magnetic particles used to build robots in a phase change material. By varying the temperature, the "write" and "erase" magnetization curves can be repeated as needed. By changing the magnetization distribution in the elastomer, the robot can produce different response actions.
The researchers individually magnetized each magnetic pixel using a process called laser-assisted heating. As a result, the robot can remain in a fixed shape by simply switching to "rigid body" mode. In addition, its magnetization and stiffness can be easily programmed.
In the future, magnetic coding technology can be used to create soft magnetic robots. The research highlights the feasibility of large-scale manufacturing of magnetic, reusable soft robots. These robots are particularly useful for environmental monitoring, drug transport and in-body sampling.
The researchers say the next step will be to shrink the robot even further and try to design a 3D structure.
A related research paper titled Shape Programmable Magnetic Pixel Soft Robot was published on arXiv.
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