Development and characterization of magnetically actuated milli-swimmers by stereolithography

Abstract

In today's world, thanks to additive manufacturing technology, it has become easier to manufacture fast and robust small-scale swimmers/robots. Small scale swimmers have a great potential to be used in minimally invasive applications by reaching hard-to-reach places in the human body. In this study magneto-responsive milli and sub-milli size robots were fabricated. Fe flakes were synthesized by surfactant-assisted ball milling. The flakes were embedded in the polymeric resin matrix. This blend was then used to print millimetric swimmers in different shapes and sizes utilizing the stereolithography technique. The development of functional millimeter-scale robots/swimmer prototypes cost and time efficiently opens up widespread possibilities in biotechnology and medicine. This work demonstrates the three-dimensional design, development, and production of magnetically actuated milli-swimmers. Afterward, the performance of these ellipsoidal, star, and cubic shaped sub-milli and milli-swimmers is tested and compared to theoretical data for further research and improvement. © 2022 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.