Image-based magnetic control of Microparticles

Abstract

The use of microscopic robots for surgery or drug delivery is a very promising �eld of research. Being able to control exactly where drugs are delivered in the human body, allows for targeted treatment of various illnesses. Because the treatment can be localized, the medication no longer a�ects the whole body, thus possibly reducing side-e�ects. In the �rst part of this work, we de- scribe the design and implementation of a setup that can manipulate superparamagnetic spherical particles. The particles used have an average diameter of 100 µm. Using a microscope with a camera attached, we determined the location of the particle. Using the magnetic �elds generated by a set of four coils and a controller using the image data as feedback, we were able to position the particle within 8:5 µm of a given setpoint while achieving speeds of 235 µms