Reprogrammable Magnetic Soft Actuators with Microfluidic Functional Modules via Pixel-Assembly

Area of Science:

• Soft Robotics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Magnetic soft actuators offer advantages like rapid response and biocompatibility for biomedical uses.
• Current fabrication and magnetization reprogramming methods for magnetic actuators present significant challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a facile and versatile fabrication strategy for magnetic soft actuators.
• To enable customizable architectures, arbitrary magnetization profiles, and microfluidic integration.
• To overcome limitations of existing methods regarding complexity and reprogramming.

Main Methods:

• A novel pixel-assembly approach using reusable magnetic pixels on silicone substrates.
• Integration of microfluidic functional modules for diverse applications.
• Demonstration of customizable actuator configurations and biomimetic movements.

Main Results:

• Achieved customizable magnetic actuators with arbitrary magnetization profiles and decent deformability.
• Enabled biomimetic movements like grasping, swimming, and wriggling.
• Successfully integrated microfluidic modules for valve control, fluid mixing, and liquid delivery.

Conclusions:

• The pixel-assembly method provides a low-cost, rapid, and simplified approach to magnetic actuator fabrication.
• This technique eliminates the need for complex magnetization processes, offering broad prospects in microfluidics and biomedical fields.