Precise Control of Magnetic Nano Particle Formed Microrobot Cluster

Many incredible clusters of emergent behaviors exist in natural organisms, and these colonies of organisms exhibit a vigorous ability to adapt to complex and variable environments. Nowadays several artificial microrobot swarms have been developed, but the majority of them usually have only one single rigid structure which lacks adaptability to complex environments. Inspired by the clustering behavior of wild herring, this paper develops a strategy to trigger loose magnetic nanoparticles to form vortex-shaped “flexible” clusters. By programming the magnetic field parameters, the vortex-like swarm of microscopic robots can exhibit both liquid and solid-like behavior, such that the swarm is variable and reconfigurable, capable of easily overcoming complex surface environments composed of biological cells and controlling movement in any direction of the surface. In addition, it can actively approach its “prey” and capture it for transport to a designated location. In the future, deformable vortex-shaped micro-robots will play a valuable role in targeted drug delivery and targeted lesion removal in living organisms.