Researchers control floating ferrofluid jellyfish robot with light
Ferrofluid droplets can be moved magnetically, but can also react to light. This is how researchers control a soft, jellyfish-like robot.
The jellyfish-like ferrofluid robots are controlled by a laser in a water tank.
(Image: Mengmeng Sun u. a. (Screenshot))
A team of engineers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI IS), the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology have developed a jellyfish-like robot that can be controlled via ferrofluid droplets using light in a pool of water. The robot can be manipulated with a laser so that it can move three-dimensionally in the water.
Until now, ferrofluid droplets have been used to control them via a magnetic field. However, this was largely only successful in two-dimensional space. In the study "Individual and collective manipulation of multifunctional bimodal droplets in three dimensions", published in Science Advances, the participating research institutes show for the first time that ferrofluid droplets can also be manipulated using light. The researchers use a combined bimodal activation strategy to control individual droplets and droplet collectives in three dimensions and to move robots equipped with them in water.
Ferrofluid droplets consist of magnetic particles that are produced by immersion in oil droplets. They can be moved across a flat surface, for example, as soon as a magnet is pulled underneath them. However, the droplets have another property: when they are heated, the bubbles they contain expand. This gives the droplets more volume and makes them buoyant in the water.
Controlling ferrofluid droplets with a laser
The researchers first produced ferrofluid droplets for their ferrofluidic jellyfish robot, which they placed in a water tank. Using a magnetic field, the researchers induced a magnetic dipole force to combine the droplets into a collective. The researchers irradiated this with a laser, which provided enough energy to heat them in relation to the water temperature and thus cause them to float. Using the laser, the scientists were able to manipulate the droplets in such a way that they could be steered collectively through a labyrinth in a controlled manner. Previous experiments with a conventional light source were able to cause the droplet collective to rise and, when the light was removed, to descend, but did not allow precise control, so the researchers decided to use a laser for control.
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The droplets can be enclosed in a hydrogen shell and then form a kind of jellyfish-like, soft robot. Such robots are capable of transporting smaller payloads. They could therefore be used, for example, to transport drugs in the human body to the desired location under the control of an optical light source. The researchers now want to investigate what other areas of application the technology has to offer.
(olb)