Rotating Magnetic Miniature Swimming Robots With Multiple Flexible Flagella

• Published in: IEEE transactions on robotics 2014-02, Vol.30 (1), p.3-13
• Main Authors: Zhou Ye, Regnier, Stephane, Sitti, Metin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Drag; Force; Geometry; Handles; Hydrodynamics; Magnetic actuation; Mathematical models; microrobotics; Miniature; multiple artificial flagella; Optimization; Photolithography; Propulsion; Robots; Rotating; Swimming; swimming robot; Torque
• ISSN: 1552-3098; 1941-0468
• DOI: 10.1109/TRO.2013.2280058

Recent studies have been carried out for rotating single flexible flagellum: a possible propelling mechanism that has been adopted by several artificial microswimmers due to its relatively simple structure yet considerable propulsive force generation. In this paper, we introduce a miniature swimming robot design with multiple flexible artificial flagella that benefits from the increased number of flagella. The characteristic length of the robot body is less than 1 mm. Experimental characterization of swimming of the robot shows that swimming speed can be linearly improved solely by increasing the number of attached flagella, suggesting a new way for speed enhancement besides flagellum geometry optimization. In addition, a numerical model modified from the single, straight flexible flagellum case is further established to study propulsive force generation by nonstraight, flexible flagellum. A robot with multiple, sinusoidal flagella design is fabricated to demonstrate the capability of the proposed two-step photolithography-based microfabrication method to handle more complex flagella designs, which may enhance swimming performance.