NAME :- MAHESH JOSHI

MIS NO- 122024009

TOPIC:- MICROROBOT ( NEED, APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT)

MICRO-ROBOTS

Definition:-
A microrobot is a very small robot built to do specific tasks. In general, a microrobot is just a bit
larger than a nanorobot, which is created on the nanoscale. Microrobots are usually visible,
whereas some nanobots are not immediately visible to the human eye, some consider micro
robots as ones with dimensions less than 1 mm
Modern technology has allowed engineers to put computer components into extremely small
robots, which are used in many industries for different purposes. One example is in medicine,
where a microrobot may assist with clinical goals such as diagnostics or surgeries. Scientists have
acknowledged the many potential uses of microrobots in the medical and heath-care industry.
For example, because of their small size, microrobots can be placed inside the body for diagnostic
or biopsy purposes, replacing very invasive tubes such as an endoscope. In manufacturing
industries, microrobots can be built as autonomous objects or in swarms that feature machine-
to-machine learning protocols that allow them to operate as groups.

History:-
Microbots were born thanks to the appearance of the microcontroller in the last decade of the
20th century, and the appearance of miniature mechanical systems on silicon (MEMS), although
many microbots do not use silicon for mechanical components other than sensors. The earliest
research and conceptual design of such small robots was conducted in the early 1970s in (then)
classified research for U.S. intelligence agencies. Applications envisioned at that time included
prisoner of war rescue assistance and electronic intercept missions. The underlying
miniaturization support technologies were not fully developed at that time, so that progress in
prototype development was not immediately forthcoming from this early set of calculations and
concept design.As of 2008, the smallest microrobots use a Scratch Drive Actuator.
The development of wireless connections, especially Wi-Fi (i.e. in household networks) has
greatly increased the communication capacity of microbots, and consequently their ability to
coordinate with other microbots to carry out more complex tasks. Indeed, much recent research
has focused on microbot communication, including a 1,024 robot swarm at Harvard University
that assembles itself into various shapes;and manufacturing microbots at SRI International for
DARPA’s “MicroFactory for Macro Products” program that can build lightweight, high-strength
structures.
Microbots called xenobots have also been built using biological tissues instead of metal and
electronics. Xenobots avoid some of the technological and environmental complications of
traditional microbots as they are self-powered, biodegradable, and biocompatible.

Design:-
While the “micro” prefix has been used subjectively to mean “small”, standardizing on length
scales avoids confusion. Thus a nanorobot would have characteristic dimensions at or below 1
micrometer, or manipulate components on the 1 to 1000 nm size range.[citation needed] A
microrobot would have characteristic dimensions less than 1 millimeter, a millirobot would have
dimensions less than a cm, a minirobot would have dimensions less than 10 cm (4 in), and a small
robot would have dimensions less than 100 cm (39 in).

Due to their small size, microbots are potentially very cheap, and could be used in large numbers
(swarm robotics) to explore environments which are too small or too dangerous for people or
larger robots. It is expected that microbots will be useful in applications such as looking for
survivors in collapsed buildings after an earthquake, or crawling through the digestive tract. What
microbots lack in brawn or computational power, they can make up for by using large numbers,
as in swarms of microbots.

The way microrobots move around is a function of their purpose and necessary size. At
submicron sizes, the physical world demands rather bizarre ways of getting around. The Reynolds
number for airborne robots is less than unity; the viscous forces dominate the inertial forces, so
“flying” could use the viscosity of air, rather than Bernoulli’s principle of lift. Robots moving
through fluids may require rotating flagella like the motile form of E. coli. Hopping is stealthy and
energy-efficient; it allows the robot to negotiate the surfaces of a variety of terrains. Pioneering
calculations (Solem 1994) examined possible behaviours based on physical realities.

One of the major challenges in developing a microrobot is to achieve motion using a very limited
power supply. The microrobots can use a small lightweight battery source like a coin cell or can
scavenge power from the surrounding environment in the form of vibration or light
energy.Microrobots are also now using biological motors as power sources, such as flagellated
Serratia marcescens, to draw chemical power from the surrounding fluid to actuate the robotic
device. These biorobots can be directly controlled by stimuli such as chemotaxis or galvanotaxis
with several control schemes available. A popular alternative to an on-board battery is to power
the robots using externally induced power. Examples include the use of electromagnetic fields,
ultrasound and light to activate and control micro robots.

Need:-
Mobile robotic devices smaller than one millimeter could enable new directions in healthcare,
biotechnology and manufacturing. Our focus in healthcare is on medical microrobots that can
leverage minimally invasive interventional and targeted delivery strategies with high precision
and repeatability by navigating and performing in hard-to-reach and delicate inner body sites,
such as, the central nervous system, the circulatory system and the eye. Active navigation of
highly concentrated therapeutic and diagnostic agents to the site of action could represent a
state-of-the-art application of microrobots, considering the limited delivery and distribution
efficiencies offered by the systemic routes and local diffusion. By this means, it is possible to
minimize the effects of systemic toxicity and increase the overall efficacy of single-dose
administration. Autonomous release of multiple types of payloads with programmable kinetics
based on the environmental sensing of local cues, e.g., disease markers, in the living milieu could
pave the way for microrobotic therapy and diagnosis in the form of an orderly executed,
programmable operation. A conventional robot responds to the changes in its environment by
means of its on-board sensors and computational capabilities. Achieving such capabilities at the
smaller dimensions, where such computational capabilities do not exist; however, remains a
major research question. In nature, microorganisms, such as slime molds and bacteria have
evolved to use physical intelligence as the main route of making decisions in complex and
evolving conditions. Accordingly, programmed physical and chemical properties of materials can
enable a robust design route for making microrobotic systems with the capabilities of motion,
sensing, and functioning in dynamic interaction with their local environment. Such goals require
integrated design and engineering strategies, where powering, actuation, control, environmental
sensing and medical functionality need to be considered altogether.
Type of micro robots.
Biohybrid microrobots: Unicellular motile organisms, e.g. flagellated bacteria and algae, are
physically integrated with a microrobot that can be used as on-board microactuators and
microsensors that harness the biochemical energy in the microenvironment to power the
mobility of the microrobot. We exploit the microorganisms that can achieve high propulsion
speeds (tens of their body lengths per second), thereby providing high thrust power to the
biohybrid microrobots. Integrated sensing and motility of microorganisms further enable
steering using cues in the environment chemical and pH gradients.

3D-printed microrobots: Fabrication of microrobots presents unique challenges concerning

design, fabrication process, and encoding operational capabilities. Conventional microfabrication
techniques usually provide relatively simple geometric structures, such as tubes, spheres, and
surfaces, with limited design flexibility and function. Integration of computer-aided design to
microfabrication technologies has been a significant advancement to realize sophisticated 3D
designs that could not be conceivable with the alternative microfabrication methods. To this end,
we explore the potential of additive manufacturing processes for making microrobots. We put a
special emphasis on making new materials with tailorable local 3D chemical properties that
would enable on-board programmable functionalities, and hence novel design opportunities for
diverse types of microrobots.

Reconfigurable and programmable self-assembly and collective behavior of magnetic

microrobotic swarms: Collectives of microrobots working cooperatively could significantly
enhance their functionalities in many applications such as micro-manufacturing and biomedical
engineering. We are working on programmable and reconfigurable self-assembly and collective
behavior of microrobots that could enable parallel and distributed massive tasks eventually in
the living environment
One day, a visit to the hospital with a serious illness could end not with surgery or bottles of pills,
but with an injection of medical microrobots. In the broadest sense, microrobots are simply
microscopic-scale automated machines designed to perform selected movements in response to
specific stimuli—but their tiny size means that they could travel through the body to perform
tasks that no conventional robot could do. For example, they might clean out arteries that are
blocked with plaque, perform highly targeted tissue biopsies, or treat cancerous tumors from the
inside.
Similar in size to living human cells, microrobots are far less likely to cause tissue damage than
conventional medical interventions, such as surgical incisions and catheter insertions. By aiming
for specific destinations in the body, microrobots could drastically reduce the side effects of
pharmaceuticals. Looking further ahead, once they can be manipulated accurately and
repeatedly at the subcellular size range, microrobots could enable tissue engineering and
regenerative medicine, whereby damaged tissue and organs could be repaired or entirely rebuilt.

Medical engineers have been working toward these goals for more than three decades, but
recent advances in semiconductor fabrication techniques have spurred a surge in microscale and
nanoscale research that is making viable medical microrobots look increasingly attainable. These
advances are natural extensions of technologies developed for building microelectromechanical
system (MEMS) devices. The applications of MEMS devices have exploded since they were first
commercially introduced in the 1990s. They can now be found in settings as varied as automotive
airbags, inkjet printers, optical switches, and blood-pressure sensors.
Research is also making progress in the delivery of therapeutic payloads, including drugs and
imaging agents. Compared to the problems of fabrication and locomotion, drug delivery is
relatively straightforward: A microrobotic agent simply triggers a payload-release mechanism
after being guided to a target location in the body. Successful tests have been demonstrated in
vivo for small animals. For example, autonomous microrobots propelled by hydrogen
microbubbles have been used in live mice to treat gastric bacterial infections. These microrobots
improved payload-retention rates by pressing the drug directly against the stomach wall.
Compared to traditional drug delivery methods, which often rely on passive diffusion to reach a
desired area, actively guided microrobots offer a way to deliver on-demand payloads much closer
to the target location. This precision delivery means that a higher concentration of the drug will
arrive at the most beneficial site, and that the risk of potential side effects is minimized because
the drug is much less likely to diffuse to the surrounding tissue.
The greatest challenges to practical medical microrobotics now lie in the areas of locomotion and
control. Inside the human body, the microrobots must be able to move reliably through wet areas
as well as traverse through pockets of air found in places such as the stomach, intestines, and
lungs. Researchers are exploring a variety of microrobot designs that, much like an all-terrain tire
or a monster truck, could tackle a variety of conditions and surfaces. Our group sees special
promise in microrobots that move about with a tumbling motion—devices that we call microscale
tumbling magnetic robots (μTUMs), or microtumblers. If we can make these little tumblers
cheap, safe, and versatile enough, we could be a lot closer to a revolution in the delivery of
therapeutic treatments.

Development :-

Micro-bots have a wealth of interesting applications such as autonomously operating inside the
human body using natural pathways like blood vessels or gastrointestinal tract for diagnosis and
treatment, and delivering drugs to a particular area of the body (called targeted medicine);
burrowing into the brain to measure nerve signals; cleaning and rejuvenating cellphone batteries;
monitoring and reporting in different environments; testing ideas in networking and
communications; and deployment as drones.

Micro-bots are increasingly being used by engineers and scientists leading to further innovations
in the fields of engineering, biology and medicine, surgery, defence, environment, etc. Generally,
these applications include operation at small scales with the help of high-precision micro-bots in
such areas as nanoscale assembly and manufacturing; manipulation of nanoscale objects;
mechanical and electrical characterisation at nano-scale; structuring of nano-materials;
measurements requiring positioning with nano-scale precision; and many others.

Micro-robotics in biology and medicine

Synthetic biology programmable sensors with memory and signal processing units are used to
build genetically-engineered bacteria with magnetic micro-robots. Micro-robots called artificial
bacterial flagella (ABF) resemble the natural bacteria Flagella and have a magnetic head.
 Image of an artificial bacterial flagella (ABF) (Credit: researchgate.net)

These can be directed by varying the strength and direction of the rotating magnetic field for
targeted delivery deep inside the human body. Micro-bots are useful in drug delivery and fighting
diseases such as cancer and heart diseases with minimised surgical procedures. These have the
ability to enter the bloodstream, be controlled wirelessly and applied anywhere in the body for
treatment of sensitive body parts such as the eye.With micro-robots propelled in the blood
circulatory system, a large number of remote locations in the human body become accessible.
With blood vessels diameters varying from 25mm as aorta to 0.01mm as capillaries, propelling
micro-devices wirelessly and their locomotion at the microscopic level becomes a challenge. The
robots’ shape is programmed for smooth travel through fluids that are dense, viscous or moving
at rapid speeds to enable them to become accustomed to the characteristics of the fluid they are
travelling through.For example, when there is a change in viscosity or osmotic concentration,
they swiftly alter their shape to maintain speed and maneuverability, without losing control of
the direction of motion, mimicking the ability of naturally-occurring micro-organisms to adjust
their shape. The natural ability is mimicked by using a controlling electromagnetic field to
automatically transform them into the most efficient shape to maximise performance.
Another technique is to use rigid chains of micro- and nano-particles, which produce propulsion
when rotated by a magnetic field. On actuation, the micro-swimmers display a spiral motion,
resulting in forward propulsion.

Other uses in the medical field include stem cell delivery to a particular region of the body;
monitoring of chemical and physical parameters inside the body; and addressing pathways inside
the human body like gastrointestinal tract, blood circulatory system or central nervous system.
Smart endoscopic pills travel through the gastrointestinal tract and provide real-time feedback
from inside the body.Another useful application is support in repair of tissue cells. Micro-bots
attach themselves to the surface of recruited white cells and squeeze their way out through the
walls of blood vessels arriving at the injury site, where they assist in the tissue repair process.

Micro-bots for fighting cancer

Scientists from Chonnam National University, South Korea, have developed Bacteriobot, which is
capable of fighting cancers. Genetically-modified, non-toxic bacteria are attached to micro-bots
with a bead to precisely attack tumour cells in the human body. When injected into the blood
stream, they diagnose and treat cancer by migrating and targeting tumours, deliver the drug
directly to the tumours and attack the tumours, leaving the healthy cells alone. The patient is
spared the side-effects of chemotherapy.Limitation of Bacteriobot is its capability to detect only
solid tumour-forming cancers such as breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

Bacteriobot, a medical nanorobot used to treat cancer (Credit: http://longevityfacts.com)

Micro-bots in surgery

One of the most delicate organs in human body is the eye. Multi Scale Robotics Lab, Zurich, has
developed a magnetically-guided micro-bot called OctoMag, which is the size of a few human
hair (285µm) and has redefined eye surgeries. OctoMag can be controlled magnetically to allow
easy access and eliminate the necessity of slicing the eye open. The manipulating system consists
of electromagnetic coils, which guide OctoMag for wireless eye surgery.

OctoMag microbot with a protruding needle to inject medicine into the exact affected body part
(Credit: https://gigazine.net)

Micro-bots in space

Using micro-bots in space provides such advantages as decreased requirement of resources and
the ability to replace larger and more discrete equipment, thus improving performance and
efficiency and reducing cost, which are of main concern in space environment. Based on size and
energy requirements, power sources used include coin cells, super capacitors and film batteries
built using various polymer materials. Thin-film polymer batteries are more reliable than the rest
in meeting power, space and operating temperature requirements. Other energy-scavenging
methods include induction, microwave energy transmission and photovoltaics.

Communication methods for micro-bots in space include radio frequency (RF), coil induction and
optical technologies. Walking, crawling, swimming or flying are the motions available for micro-
bots in space. Flying abilities and aerodynamic features of several insects has provided inspiration
for many concepts and inventions of tiny, winged micro-bots such as drones. Their capability to
move easily through complex environments makes monitoring, surveillance, search, rescue and
obtaining information of the environment easy.

Since digital devices may not respond in changeable situations, artificial neural networks inspired
by neural networking within insects are used to solve the problem. Methods used include
actuation by electrostatics, electromagnetic, lead-zirconium-titanate and shape memory alloys,
which convert thermal energy to kinetic energy. Based on the natural movement of cockroaches,
a miniature robot, Sprawlita (a dynamically-stable running hexapod), has been developed using
pneumatic motors.

Sprawlita, a miniature robot used in space (Credit: https://www.researchgate.net)

Piezoelectric actuators, which are scaled to small sizes and can be put into a variety of
configurations, are used. Copying the way fish and sea insect move, micro-bots are built with
aerial and aquatic locomotive abilities using movable, flexible wing designs.

Miniature robots in warfare

Progress in miniaturisation has helped create a new generation of micro-bots for use by the
armed forces. These present new capabilities—easy to carry and capable of squeezing in
undetected—into otherwise inaccessible spaces. These can be gainfully employed for providing
life-saving intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) information to the operator, and
relaying it to a communication, command and control centre. Swarming technology provides the
ability to full-size robots and micro-bots to autonomously interact to carry out joint missions,
responding to moves made as well as data captured by each other.

ReconScout XT micro-bot used in warfare, and to fight terrorism (Credit: www.designfax.net)

Micro-bot systems are most effective in field operations for explosives reconnaissance and
deactivation, to capture data on enemy positions and locate survivors of natural disasters due to
their ability to fly, crawl, climb and wiggle into inaccessible spaces. For example, their mobility,
durability, light weight and methods of locomotion can be combined to innovate a device that
can be thrown over walls and in through windows, and be steered remotely to capture data using
a range of onboard sensors accessories, cameras and other payloads.

Dumbbell-shaped XT is a miniature robot used with a handheld control unit to control and display
the real-time video it captures. Together, these are difficult to detect and destroy by the enemy
as they are small, operate quietly and are armed with an infrared (IR) optical system that can
operate in low light, enabling the operator to operate in darkness. The system can be deployed
within seconds, be thrown up as high as 36 metres, and transmits video up to 30 metres indoors
and 91 metres outdoors.Micro-bots are very useful in military, terrorism and natural disaster
operations to perform tasks that are otherwise excessively dangerous or dirty for humans to carry
out.

1)Rolls-Royce microbots could be working on your engine in no time

The bots will be able to inspect the engine from the inside
Rolls-Royce and Harvard University are teaming up to create microbots for engine maintenance
on aircrafts. SWARM robots will enter the engine with the help of a snake robot and inspect the
engine from the inside without removing parts of the engine.
Transcript: These are the world’s smallest mechanics. ‘SWARM’ microbots from Rolls-Royce give
us a look at the future of engine repair. Rolls-Royce teamed up with Harvard University to create
these quadrupedal micro robots. The SWARM robots are designed to revolutionize engine
maintenance on aircrafts. The size of the microbots allows them to get inside the engine and
eliminates the need to remove it. The SWARM concept has 4 legs and it can move horizontally
and vertically. SWARM is still in development. Rolls-Royce plans on making these tiny bots even
smaller. Each microbot will have a small camera that sends a live video feed back to the operator.
SWARM bots will eventually measure 10mm in diameter and will enter the engine with the help
of a snake robot. Rolls-Royce says that the rapid inspection of these microbots will eventually
reduce the cost of engine maintenance. Would you let microbots work on your car.
2)RoBeetle
It is a tiny 88-milligram insect-sized autonomous crawling robot powered by the catalytic
combustion of methanol. Developed by researchers at the University of Southern California, this
tiny robot runs on methanol and uses an artificial muscle system to crawl, climb and carry loads
on its back for up to two hours. The 15 millimeters (.6 inches) long RoBeetle uses an artificial
muscle system based on liquid fuel (methanol) which stores about 10 times more energy than a
battery of the same mass. This micro robot has four legs. Its rear legs are fixed and the front legs
are attached to a transmission which is connected to a leaf spring-tensioned in a way that pulls
the legs backward. The body of the robot works as a fuel tank that is filled with methanol and the
design is such that the robot can stand upright when still. The mechanical design of the system
can modulate the flow of fuel using a purely mechanical system.
3) All-terrain microrobot

A rectangular robot as tiny as a few human hairs can travel throughout a colon by doing back
flips, Purdue University engineers have demonstrated in live animal models.

Why the back flips? Because the goal is to use these robots to transport drugs in humans, whose
colons and other organs have rough terrain. Side flips work, too.

Why a back-flipping robot to transport drugs? Getting a drug directly to its target site could
remove side effects, such as hair loss or stomach bleeding, that the drug may otherwise cause by
interacting with other organs along the way.
The study, published in the journal Micromachines, is the first demonstration of a microrobot
tumbling through a biological system in vivo. Since it is too small to carry a battery, the
microrobot is powered and wirelessly controlled from the outside by a magnetic field.
“When we apply a rotating external magnetic field to these robots, they rotate just like a car tire
would to go over rough terrain,” said David Cappelleri, a Purdue associate professor
of mechanical engineering. “The magnetic field also safely penetrates different types of
mediums, which is important for using these robots in the human body.”
The researchers chose the colon for in vivo experiments because it has an easy point of entry –
and it’s very messy.“Moving a robot around the colon is like using the people-walker at an airport
to get to a terminal faster. Not only is the floor moving, but also the people around you,” said Luis
Solorio, an assistant professor in Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.

“In the colon, you have all these fluids and materials that are following along the path, but the
robot is moving in the opposite direction. It’s just not an easy voyage.”

But this magnetic microrobot can successfully tumble throughout the colon despite these rough
conditions, the researchers’ experiments showed.
The team conducted the in vivo experiments in the colons of live mice under anesthesia, inserting
the microrobot in a saline solution through the rectum. They used ultrasound equipment to
observe in real time how well the microrobot moved around.

The microrobots could also tumble in colons excised from pigs, the researchers found, which
have similar guts to humans.
The microrobot can be seen just to the right of the “U” in United States on this U.S. penny

4)Xenobot
Xenobots, named after the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis),are synthetic
lifeforms that are automatically designed by computers to perform some desired
function and built by combining together different biological tissues. Whether or not
xenobots are robots, organisms, or something else entirely remains a subject of
debate among scientists.Xenobots are less than a 1 millimeter (0.039 inches) wide and
composed of just two things: skin cells and heart muscle cells, both of which are
derived from stem cells harvested from early (blastula stage) frog embryos.The skin
cells provide rigid support and the heart cells act as small motors, contracting and
expanding in volume to propel the xenobot forward. The shape of a xenobot’s body,
and its distribution of skin and heart cells, are automatically designed in simulation to
perform a specific task, using a process of trial and error (an evolutionary algorithm).
Xenobots have been designed to walk, swim, push pellets, carry payloads, and work
together in a swarm to aggregate debris scattered along the surface of their dish into
neat piles. They can survive for weeks without food and heal themselves after
lacerations.
Other kinds of motors and sensors have been incorporated into xenobots. Instead of
heart muscle, xenobots can grow patches of cilia and use them as small oars for
swimming.However, cilia-driven xenobot locomotion is currently less controllable
than cardiac-driven xenobot locomotion.An RNA molecule can also be introduced to
xenobots to give them molecular memory: if exposed to specific kind of light during
behavior, they will glow a prespecified color when viewed under a fluorescent
microscope

References:-
1)Kristensen, Lars Kroll (2000). “Aintz: A study of emergent properties in a model of ant foraging”.
In Bedau, M. A.; et al. (eds.). Artificial Life VII: Proceedings of the Seventh International
Conference on Artificial Life. MIT Press. P. 359. ISBN 9780262522908.

2) https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/our-stories/insights/2018/swarm-robots.aspx
3) https://spectrum.ieee.org/amp/robeetle-liquid-methanol-2650280378
4) Miniature and microrobots: a review of recent developments Robert Bogue Industrial Robot:
An International Journal, 2015
5) Poole, Steven (2020-01-16). "Xenobot: how did earth's newest lifeforms get their name?". The
Guardian.