A Novel Swimming Microrobot Based on Artificial Cilia for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Swimming microrobots can exhibit high levels of performance to move freely in the human body fluids to fulfill risky biomedical operations by mimicking microorganisms. Many researchers have proposed micro swimming methods for viscous flows based on flagellar motion. Here, a novel swimming microrobot inspired by ciliated microorganisms based on artificial cilia is introduced. The hydrodynamic model is developed and performance parameters such as propulsive force, propulsive velocity and efficiency of the microrobot are computed. The velocity and efficiency dependence on design parameters of microrobot is evaluated. The proposed micro swimming concept offers appropriate efficiency, thrust, speed and maneuverability. It is shown that the introduced swimming microrobot can reach a maximum speed 4.5 mm/s and efficiency of 40%. The proposed microrobot has the potential to be utilized in both viscous and turbulent body flows.