Structure and electromagnetic actuation systems of microrobot

Abstract

According to the feature of the magnetic actuation principle, now there are mainly three driving methods: one is alternating magnetic field, another is stationary gradient magnetic field and the last one is rotating magnetic field. This paper provides a detailed insight into the present-day state of microrobot technology and development on structure and electromagnetic actuation (EMA) systems. Firstly, the microrobot based on the three actuation methods is selectively elaborated respectively and the structure of EMA systems, microrobot characteristics and actuation principle are all analyzed and compared; finally some of the critical aspects of microrobot and EMA system design are considered. This paper shows that rotating magnetic field will be the most actuation promising method in the future biomedical application. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012.