Recent advances in soft materials, new fabrication schemes, and continuum actuation have supported the development of new micro-instruments and robotics. A fabrication scheme for miniaturized smart soft composite actuator has been proposed, which can generate a 390 μN force and achieve a large bending angle of 80°. Applications to grasping small and delicate objects with single and two finger devices have been demonstrated. The range of micro-devices developed also includes the design of a microscale piston, with a maximum dimension of 150 micrometers, fabricated with two-photon lithography onto the tip of 140 micrometer-diameter capillaries, as well as sub-millimeter microfluidic chips to deliver nanoliter droplets for liquid biopsy and in vivo drug screening. Related to these work, a microrobotic platform has been developed for the functionalization of fibers of diameters from 140 to 830 micrometers, with a patterning precision of 5 micrometers and an orientation error below 0.4°. This level of transfer precision would allow for the fabrication of micro-sensor arrays and electronic circuits to perform in situ biomarker detection and robot assisted intervention. 

Floating magnetic microrobots for fiber functionalization

Principle of operation of the proposed micropiston

Micropiston-based compliant gripper

Schematic of the delivery sampling probe

Selected Publications：

1.    Barbot A, Tan H, Power M, et al. Floating magnetic microrobots for fiber functionalization. Science Robotics, 2019, 4(34): eaax8336.

2.    Barbot A, Power M, F Seichepine, et al. Liquid seal for compact micropiston actuation at the capillary tip. Science Advances, 2020, 6(22): eaba5660.

3.    Barbot A, Wales D, Yeatman E, and Yang G-Z. Microfluidics at fiber tip for nanoliter delivery and sampling. Advanced Science, 2021, 8(10): 2004643.

4.    Lee H T, Seichepine F, and Yang G-Z. Microtentacle actuators based on shape memory alloy smart soft composite. Advanced Functional Materials, 2020, 30(34): 2002510.

5.  Gao A, Liu N, Zhang H, Wu Z, and Yang G-Z. Spiral FBG sensors-based contact detection for confocal laser endomicroscopy. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2020, 170: 112653.