An International research team led by Dr. Oliver Schmidt, working at Chemnitz University of Technology (TU Chemnitz) and Leibniz IFW Dresden has recently developed a microrobitic system of a highly flexible material. (it can be bent or deformed without breaking, thus it could even pass through tiny capillaries or other small channels in the human body and continue to operate normally.)This robot, presented in a paper published in Nature Electronics, builds on an idea introduced by the same team of researchers almost a decade ago.
Schmidt and his colleagues fabricated their flexible microsystem by integrating micro and nano electronic components on a chip surface, in a similar way to how silicon technology is used to build computer chips. A key difference between their system and regular computer chips, however, is that the former's design includes jet engines created using an approach pioneered approximately twenty years ago, which is not typically used in the development of mainstream microelectronics. As a result of the non-conventional design strategy, when the microrobotic system is placed into an aqueous solution containing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) the solution enters its two microtubes, generating oxygen bubbles. These bubbles are then thrusted outside of the microtubes' ends, accelerating the system by a mechanism known as jet propulsion.The catalytic reaction at the core the researchers' jet propulsion strategy can be controlled by changing the temperature of the jet engines.
A high temperature results in more bubbles and a stronger thrust; a low temperature in fewer bubbles and a weaker thrust. Schmidt and his colleagues control the temperature of one of the two jet engines by applying a current that passes through a resistive element, which is connected to the engine. Changes in temperature increase the amount of bubbles generated and the subsequent thrust in one of the jet engines, which in turn allows the system to make right or left turns. The tiny robot also has a little arm, which allows it to grab and release small objects in its surroundings. When the system's temperature changes, the little arm performs different actions, bending up to grab objects (e.g., micro-pills) or bending down to release them.
Vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2mA0i_xEmU
Schmidt and his colleagues fabricated their flexible microsystem by integrating micro and nano electronic components on a chip surface, in a similar way to how silicon technology is used to build computer chips. A key difference between their system and regular computer chips, however, is that the former's design includes jet engines created using an approach pioneered approximately twenty years ago, which is not typically used in the development of mainstream microelectronics. As a result of the non-conventional design strategy, when the microrobotic system is placed into an aqueous solution containing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) the solution enters its two microtubes, generating oxygen bubbles. These bubbles are then thrusted outside of the microtubes' ends, accelerating the system by a mechanism known as jet propulsion.The catalytic reaction at the core the researchers' jet propulsion strategy can be controlled by changing the temperature of the jet engines.
A high temperature results in more bubbles and a stronger thrust; a low temperature in fewer bubbles and a weaker thrust. Schmidt and his colleagues control the temperature of one of the two jet engines by applying a current that passes through a resistive element, which is connected to the engine. Changes in temperature increase the amount of bubbles generated and the subsequent thrust in one of the jet engines, which in turn allows the system to make right or left turns. The tiny robot also has a little arm, which allows it to grab and release small objects in its surroundings. When the system's temperature changes, the little arm performs different actions, bending up to grab objects (e.g., micro-pills) or bending down to release them.
Vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2mA0i_xEmU
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