3D Printing of Multilayer Magnetic Miniature Soft Robots with Programmable Magnetization

Abstract

Magnetically driven miniature soft robots exhibit fast and dexterous responses to an applied external magnetic field. With remote manipulation, controlled navigation of robots can be realized within hard‐to‐access spaces for potential use in the human body. Existing magnetic miniature soft robots using digital light processing are fabricated from planar sheets, and thus have limited shape transformations and locomotive behaviors. Herein, a multilayer 3D printing method is reported for patterning magnetic nanoparticles in ultraviolet (UV)‐curable polymer matrix. Various multilayer 3D structures within 10 mm in overall size are fabricated with controlled volumes at different parts, which outperform 2D folded shapes in terms of robustness and kinematic flexibility. By programming heterogeneous magnetization within discrete multilayer robot segments, magnetic torque‐induced shape changes including gripping, rolling, swimming, and walking are induced by a global actuation field. Stacked design features with minimum dimension of 200 μm and encoded magnetization with resolution of 350 μm can be realized in the printing process. Meanwhile, enhanced deformation flexibility and formation of orientation‐anchoring mechanisms are created by integrating multiple materials with distinct mechanical and magnetic properties, respectively, which enables the creation of versatile 3D multi‐material actuators.