Ultrasound-activated ciliary bands for microrobotic systems inspired by starfish

Cornel Dillinger; Nitesh Nama; Daniel Ahmed

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26607-y

Nature Communications (Nov 2021)

Ultrasound-activated ciliary bands for microrobotic systems inspired by starfish

Cornel Dillinger,
Nitesh Nama,
Daniel Ahmed

Affiliations

Cornel Dillinger: Acoustic Robotics Systems Lab, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich
Nitesh Nama: Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Daniel Ahmed: Acoustic Robotics Systems Lab, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26607-y
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

Read online

Most engineered ciliary bands generate simple hydrodynamics with unidirectional flow profiles. Here, inspired by the starfish larva, the authors show acoustically-activated microrobots with cilia that can control direction of liquid flow through oscillations, exhibiting propulsion at microscales.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

About the journal