Magnetic Actuation and Biological Sensing for Soft Micro Bio Robots

Small-scale robotic systems have the potential to drive technological development in biological research and medicine. Similar in size to insects or as small as a single cell, robots at these scales have manipulated cells and tissues, delivered therapeutics, and monitored biological environments. In order to perform these tasks, small-scale robots must be able to precisely locomote, take measurements, and use those measurements to make decisions. In this talk, we will discuss our distinct approach to actuation and sensing through the design and fabrication of soft micro bio robots composed of an organic hydrogel embedded with iron oxide nanoparticles. Due to its biocompatible, soft, and porous scaffold, this robot can transport and deliver chemical, cellular, and bimolecular payloads. We drive these robots using uniform, rotating magnetic fields across a range of rotational frequencies and within various fluids spanning three orders of magnitude in viscosity. Inspired by developments in synthetic biology, we genetically engineer sensors and processing units harbored within bacteria which are grown and function on-board the robot. These results showcase a hybrid strategy to actuate and integrate sensors on-board biologically relevant small-scale robots.