Microscale Magneto-Elastic Composite Swimmers at the Air-Water and Water-Solid Interfaces Under a Uniaxial Field

Abstract

This study presents experimental demonstrations of an innovative swimming microrobot based on elastically linked magnets. Many scientists assume that microrobots obey special physics because fluid friction is proportionately large, but the authors show that this is not always true. This is important to know, because the physics due to high fluid friction can prevent liquids from mixing in $e.g.$ medical tests that are being developed to diagnose several diseases simultaneously. A special feature of the robot here is that it can act alone or as a building block to join forces with others, which could enable teams of robots to be programmed to tackle specific problems.