Microscopic Robots

We report on a new class of fast, high-curvature, low-voltage, reconfigurable, micrometer-scale shape-memory actuators. They bend to the smallest radius of curvature of any electrically controlled microactuator (~500 nanometers), are fast (<100-millisecond operation), and operate inside the electrochemical window of water. These shape-memory actuators can be used to create basic electrically reconfigurable microscale robot elements including actuating surfaces, origami-based three-dimensional shapes, morphing metamaterials, and mechanical memory elements.

Individually addressable microscale robotic cilia have the potential to enable unprecedented control over microfluidic environments. They could be used to sort microscale particles, control chemical reactions, or transport viscoelastic materials. Artificial cilia could also be used to better our understanding of biological processes such as neurotransmitter transport in the brain and fluid clearing in the liver and lungs. Here, we report on the development of electrically actuated artificial cilia that pump fluid efficiently at the micron scale.