Electromagnetic Actuation of Microrobots in a Simulated Vascular Structure With a Position Estimator Based Motion Controller

The use of microrobots to achieve micromanipulation in vivo has attracted considerable attention in recent years to meet the request of non-invasiveness, precision and high efficiency in medical treatment. This letter reports the use of a home-designed electromagnetic manipulation system to control the movements of microrobots in a simulated vascular structure. After dynamic modeling, the moving trajectory of the microrobot is designed on the basis of an artificial potential field. Estimator for position is then designed with stability analysis by a Lyapunov approach. A super-twisting algorithm is further applied to control the microrobot to move along with the desired trajectory. Simulations and experiments are finally performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.