Related papers: Responsive Hydrogel-based Modular Microrobots for …
Biological cells and synthetic analogues use liquid-liquid phase separation to dynamically compartmentalize their environment for various applications. In many cases, multiple droplets need to coexist, and their size needs to be controlled,…
This paper introduces a cube-based reconfigurable robot that utilizes an electromagnet-based actuation framework to reconfigure in three dimensions via pivoting. While a variety of actuation mechanisms for self-reconfigurable robots have…
Inspired by dimeric motor proteins capable of undergoing transportation in living cells, significant efforts have been expended to the fabrication of track-walking nanomotors possessing two foot-like components that each can bind or detach…
Modular Active Cell Robots (MACROs) are a design paradigm for modular robotic hardware that uses only two components, namely actuators and passive compliant joints. Under the MACRO approach, a large number of actuators and joints are…
Soft robots have been leveraged in considerable areas like surgery, rehabilitation, and bionics due to their softness, flexibility, and safety. However, it is challenging to produce two same soft robots even with the same mold and…
Substrate engineering for steering cell growth is a wide and well-established area of research in the field of modern biotechnology. Here we introduce a micromachining technique to pattern an inert, transparent polymer matrix blended with a…
Research on untethered micro-swimming robots is growing fast owing to their potential impact on minimally invasive medical procedures. Candidate propulsion mechanisms of robots are based on flagellar mechanisms of microorganisms such as…
This paper presents the design of a small aerial robot for inhabited microgravity environments, such as orbiting space stations (e.g., ISS). In particular, we target a fleet of robots, called Space CoBots, for collaborative tasks with…
In situ polymerization and micropatterning of hydrogels on-chip opens the potential for many applications such as tracking and controlling the diffusion of molecules, stimulants, inhibitors, as well as nutrients and drugs, from their source…
Modular robotics enables the development of versatile and adaptive robotic systems with autonomous reconfiguration. This paper presents a modular robotic system in which each module has independent actuation, battery power, and control,…
Legged machines are becoming increasingly agile and adaptive but they have so far lacked the morphological diversity of legged animals, which have been rearranged and reshaped to fill millions of niches. Unlike their biological…
Shape morphing magnetic soft materials, composed of magnetic particles in a soft polymer matrix, can transform shapes reversibly, remotely, and rapidly, finding diverse applications in actuators, soft robotics, and biomedical devices. To…
Soft particles display highly versatile properties with respect to hard colloids, even more so at fluid-fluid interfaces. In particular, microgels, consisting of a cross-linked polymer network, are able to deform and flatten upon adsorption…
Inspired by the path followed by Matthias Ballauff over the past 20 years, the development of thermosensitive core-shell microgel structures is reviewed. Different chemical approaches, from hard nanoparticle cores to double…
Among small-scale mobile robots, multi-modal locomotion can help compensate for limited actuator capabilities. However, supporting multiple locomotion modes or gaits in small terrestrial robots typically requires complex designs with low…
Multi-robot systems, particularly mobile manipulators, face challenges in control coordination and dynamic stability when working together. To address this issue, this study proposes MobiDock, a modular self-reconfigurable mobile…
The accurate and efficient computation of the electromagnetic response of objects made from artificial materials is crucial for designing photonic functionalities and interpreting experiments. Advanced fabrication techniques can nowadays…
Having the advantage of being relatively fast and powerful, as well as readily fabricated, spherical bubble-propelled microrobots are particularly well suited for applications such as cargo delivery, micromanipulation, and biological or…
The current understanding of motility through body shape deformation of microorganisms and the knowledge of fluid flows at the microscale provides ample examples for mimicry and design of soft microrobots. In this work, a two-dimensional…
This paper presents a low-cost, centralized modular underwater robot platform, ModCube, which can be used to study swarm coordination for a wide range of tasks in underwater environments. A ModCube structure consists of multiple ModCube…