A stepping microrobot controlled by flow oscillations

A self-locomotive microrobot can be a key technology for medical applications, manufacturing, or micro total analysis systems (μTAS). Although previous studies have mostly used magnetic, electric, chemical, or optical forces to control microrobots, we utilized flow oscillations. The results showed that the locomotion of the microrobot was stepwise near a wall when the oscillations were applied both horizontally and vertically. The most efficient microrobot was capable of propelling itself about 2 x 10^-3 times its radius during one oscillation period. These results illustrate that the proposed stepping microrobot has great potential for future applications.