OctoMag: An Electromagnetic System for 5-DOF Wireless Micromanipulation

Author

Kummer, Michael P. ; Abbott, Jake J. ; Kratochvil, Bradley E. ; Borer, Ruedi ; Sengul, Ali ; Nelson, Bradley J.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Robot. & Intell. Syst., ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Volume

26

Issue

6

fYear

2010

Firstpage

1006

Lastpage

1017

Abstract

We demonstrate five-degree-of-freedom (5-DOF) wireless magnetic control of a fully untethered microrobot (3-DOF position and 2-DOF pointing orientation). The microrobot can move through a large workspace and is completely unrestrained in the rotation DOF. We accomplish this level of wireless control with an electromagnetic system that we call OctoMag. OctoMag´s unique abilities are due to its utilization of complex nonuniform magnetic fields, which capitalizes on a linear representation of the coupled field contributions of multiple soft-magnetic-core electromagnets acting in concert. OctoMag was primarily designed to control intraocular microrobots for delicate retinal procedures, but it also has potential uses in other medical applications or micromanipulation under an optical microscope.

Keywords

electromagnets; magnetic fields; micromanipulators; optical microscopes; soft magnetic materials; 5-DOF wireless micromanipulation; OctoMag; complex nonuniform magnetic fields; coupled field; electromagnetic system; five-degree-of-freedom; intraocular microrobots; linear representation; optical microscope; soft-magnetic-core electromagnets; untethered microrobot; wireless control; Electromagnets; Magnetic levitation; Magnetic noise; Magnetic resonance imaging; Microrobots; Surgery; Wireless communication; Magnetic; medical; micromanipulator; microrobot; minimally invasive surgery; untethered; wireless;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Robotics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1552-3098

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TRO.2010.2073030

Filename

5595508