(17e) Cargo Capture and Transport By Magnetic Field Actuated Microellipsoids

Magnetically actuated microrobots provide solutions for biomedical applications, ranging from targeted drug delivery to minimally invasive surgery. Despite significant progress in microrobot designs and actuation strategies, developing intelligent microrobots that operate with greater autonomy, the ability to navigate complex environments and execute specific tasks remains challenging. These challenges are attributed to limited dynamic control over the motion of the microrobots due to large viscous drag and stochastic Brownian forces opposing the deterministic motion. Here, we demonstrate control over ellipsoidal microparticle spatial trajectories via the actuation of time-varying magnetic fields for contactless cargo capture and delivery in free space and confined environments. We investigate mechanistic features of particle aspect ratio, external field characteristics, and mobile micro-vortices in directed microellipsoid motion and cargo particle capture. Furthermore, we present an approach for controlled navigation through mazes based on real-time particle and obstacle sensing, path planning, and magnetic field actuation without human intervention. The study introduces a new mechanism for directing microellipsoid motion using time-varying magnetic fields and a control scheme for precisely navigating microellipsoids and delivering micron-sized cargo particles.