Battery-Less Soft Millirobot That Can Move, Sense, and Communicate Remotely by Coupling the Magnetic and Piezoelectric Effects

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Detail(s)

Original languageEnglish
Article number2000069
Journal / PublicationAdvanced Science
Volume7
Issue number13
Online published16 May 2020
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2020

Link(s)

Abstract

The soft millirobot is a promising candidate for emerging applications in various in-vivo/vitro biomedical settings. Despite recent success in its design and actuation, the absence of sensing ability makes it still far from being a reality. Here, a radio frequency identification (RFID) based battery-less soft millirobot that can move, sense, and communicate remotely by coupling the magnetic and piezoelectric effects is reported. This design integrates the robot actuation and power generation units within a thin multilayer film (<0.5 mm), i.e., a lower magnetic composite limb decorated with multiple feet imparts locomotion and a flexible piezoceramic composite film recovers energy simultaneously. Under a trigger of external magnetic guidance, the millirobot can achieve remote locomotion, environment monitoring, and wireless communication with no requirement of any on-board battery or external wired power supply. Furthermore, this robot demonstrates the sensing capability in measuring environment temperature and contact interface by two different sensing models, i.e., carried-on and build-in sensing mode, respectively. This research represents a remarkable advance in the emerging area of untethered soft robotics, benefiting a broad spectrum of promising applications, such as in-body monitoring, diagnosis, and drug delivery.

Research Area(s)

  • battery-less sensing, sensing, soft millirobots, untethered motion

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