Untethered Small-Scale Machines for Microrobotic Manipulation: From Individual and Multiple to Collective Machines

作者：Wang, Qianqian^*; Zhang, Jiachen; Yu, Jiangfan; Lang, Ji; Lyu, Zhiyang; Chen, Yunfei^*; Zhang, Li^*

来源：ACS Nano, 2023, 17(14): 13081-13109.

DOI：10.1021/acsnano.3c05328

• small-scale machine
• microrobotic manipulation
• micro
• nanorobot
• wireless actuation
• motion control
• environment adaptability
• automation at small scales
• adaptive control
• autonomous system

Untethered small-scale machines (USSMs) that can activelyadjusttheir motion, deformation, and collective states in response to externalstimuli have gained enormous interest in various manipulation, sensing,and biomedical applications. Because they can be efficiently operatedin confined and tortuous environments, USSMs are capable of conductingwireless microrobotic manipulation tasks that tethered machines findhard to achieve. Over the past decade of development, significantresearch progress has been achieved in designing USSM-based manipulationstrategies, which are enabled by investigating machine-object, machine-environment,and machine-machine interactions. This review summarizes the latestdevelopments in USSMs for microrobotic manipulation by utilizing individualmachines, coordinating multiple machines, and inducing collectivebehaviors. Providing recent studies and relevant applications in microroboticand biomedical areas, we also discuss the challenges and future perspectivesfacing USSMs-based intelligent manipulation systems to achieve manipulationin complex environments with imaging-guided processes and increasingautonomy levels.