A Computer-Aided Teleoperation System for Intuitively Controlling the Behavior of a Magnetic Millirobot within a Stomach Phantom

Untethered magnetic millirobots with a characteristic length of a few millimeters can be wirelessly controlled. They exhibit promising potential in a wide variety of applications, particularly for tasks in clinic workspaces. However, magnetically controlling these robots is counter-intuitive and requires a steep learning curve, hindering their wide adoption. Herein, a computer-aided teleoperation platform is developed to operate a soft millirobot, with its feedback control being conducted behind-the-scenes, bridging the user's inputs directly with the millirobot's actions to offer an intuitive control. This system enables untrained users to conveniently control the position and actions of the millirobot inside a human stomach phantom by pointing-and-clicking on a real-time video monitor or using a keyboard. The platform automatically materializes the user's instructions by maneuvering a robotic arm with a tip-mounted magnet to exert a magnetic field to induce the desired response from the millirobot. Experiments show that the system allows the user to intuitively operate the millirobot and deliver its cargo without splitting their attention to monitor the workspace or to calculate the constantly changing control parameters. This platform can lower the barrier for healthcare practitioners without engineering expertise to adopt miniature robotic systems into their workflow and realize these systems’ promising potential. © 2023 The Authors. Advanced Intelligent Systems published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.