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Abstract Nature's ability to create complex and functionalized organisms has long inspired engineers and scientists to develop increasingly advanced machines. Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB), a group of Gram‐negative prokaryotes that biomineralize iron and thrive in aquatic environments, have garnered significant attention from the bioengineering community. These bacteria possess chains of magnetic nanocrystals known as magnetosomes, which allow them to align with Earth's geomagnetic field and navigate through aquatic environments via magnetotaxis, enabling localization to areas rich in nutrients and optimal oxygen concentration. Their built‐in magnetic components, along with their intrinsic and/or modified biological functions, make them one of the most promising platforms for future medical microrobots. Leveraging an externally applied magnetic field, the motion of MTBs can be precisely controlled, rendering them suitable for use as a new type of biohybrid microrobotics with great promise in medicine for bioimaging, drug delivery, cancer therapy, antimicrobial treatment, and detoxification. This mini‐review provides an up‐to‐date overview of recent advancements in MTB microrobots, delineates the interaction between MTB microrobots and magnetic fields, elucidates propulsion mechanisms and motion control, and reports state‐of‐the‐art strategies for modifying and functionalizing MTB for medical applications.
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This content will become publicly available on June 1, 2026
Real-time teleoperation of magnetic force-driven microrobots with a motion model and stable haptic force feedback for micromanipulation
Microrobots powered by an external magnetic field could be used for sophisticated medical applications such as cell treatment, micromanipulation, and noninvasive surgery inside the body. Untethered microrobot applications can benefit from haptic technology and telecommunication, enabling telemedical micro-manipulation. Users can manipulate the microrobots with haptic feedback by interacting with the robot operating system remotely in such applications. Artificially created haptic forces based on wirelessly transmitted data and model-based guidance can aid human operators with haptic sensations while manipulating microrobots. The system presented here includes a haptic device and a magnetic tweezer system linked together using a network-based teleoperation method with motion models in fluids. The magnetic microrobots can be controlled remotely, and the haptic interactions with the remote environment can be felt in real time. A time-domain passivity controller is applied to overcome network delay and ensure stability of communication. This study develops and tests a motion model for microrobots and evaluates two image-based 3D tracking algorithms to improve tracking accuracy in various Newtonian fluids. Additionally, it demonstrates that microrobots can group together to transport multiple larger objects, move through microfluidic channels for detailed tasks, and use a novel method for disassembly, greatly expanding their range of use in microscale operations. Remote medical treatment in multiple locations, remote delivery of medication without the need for physical penetration of the skin, and remotely controlled cell manipulations are some of the possible uses of the proposed technology.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2123824
- PAR ID:
- 10600613
- Publisher / Repository:
- AIP Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nanotechnology and Precision Engineering
- Volume:
- 8
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1672-6030
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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