Micro-Miniature Robots, Built of Laser-Guided Bubbles, Prove Capable of Assembling Complex Objects
Created by pulsing laser light, the tiny bubble-bots can assemble and manipulate complex objects, from tiny gears to skateboards.
A research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has released a paper describing a means of creating miniature manipulation and assembly robots from bubbles — by blasting them with lasers.
"Industrial robots have been widely used for manufacturing and assembly in factories. However, at the micro scale, most assembly technologies can only pattern the micromodules together loosely and can hardly combine the micromodules to directly form an entity that cannot be easily dispersed," the researchers explain. "In this study, surface bubbles are made to function as microrobots on a chip."
"These microrobots can move, fix, lift, and drop microparts and integratively assemble them into a tightly connected entity. As an example, the assembly of a pair of microparts with dovetails is considered. A jack-like bubble robot is used to lift and drop a micropart with a tail, whereas a mobile microrobot is used to push the other micropart with the corresponding socket to the proper position so that the tail can be inserted into the socket. The assembled microparts with the tail–socket joint can move as an entity without separation."
The trick builds on previous bubble-bots, which were typically created using a blast of either light or sound. Using these bubble-bots to manipulate items has long been proven, but using them to assemble parts into a single whole had yet to be achieved — until now.
The experiments saw the researchers produce bubble-bots of different sizes by pulsing a laser beam into water. These bubble-bots were then moved by shifting the position of the laser, moving a tiny part made of resin into place — then when the laser was deactivated, dissipated and dropped the resin into place.
By combining multiple bubbles the researchers were able to lift and drop objects, rotate objects, push objects, and assemble individual parts - producing three- and four-pronged gears, a chain, and even a tiny three-dimensional skateboard, all of which could be moved independently as one object post-assembly.
The team's paper, which explains that the research could be used for a variety of micro-manufacturing processes including biological tissue engineering, has been published under closed-access terms in the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces.