An Automated Platform for Microrobot Manipulation

Abstract

This paper presents hydrogel microrobots (100) that are directed to specific locations in their environment by an automated platform. The microrobots are actuated by focused laser light and crawl in aqueous environments. The platform consists of a stage, manipulated by stepper drivers and controlled by a Raspberry PI 4. This positions the laser light in the desired locations to move microrobots towards a goal location. The microrobot localisation is done via a microscope camera and repetitive usage of a template matching algorithm. Instead of a path planning algorithm, the optimal position for the laser is chosen before every step so that the disk reaches the goal as fast as possible.