An intravascular helical magnetic millirobot with a gripper mechanism performing object delivery and collecting motions actuated by precession rotating magnetic fields

Abstract

This research proposes a novel intravascular helical magnetic millirobot (IHMM) that can conduct various functional motions such as helical navigating, unclogging, object delivery, and object collecting motions, simply actuated by a precession rotating magnetic field (PRMF). The proposed IHMM is composed of a helical body with a tapered drilling tip attached to the front head. Since it is composed of two identical halves of a cone hinged to two separate pin joints, the drilling tip can also act as a magnetically actuated gripper to deliver objects to a target area or collect debris after unclogging motions. This research established a simplified equation to maneuver the IHMM’s different mechanical motions in a straightforward manner. Then, it conducted various experiments demonstrating various functional motions of the IHMM to show the validity of the proposed mechanism.