Steering Micro-Robotic Swarm by Dynamic Actuating Fields

We present a general solution for steering microroboticswarm by dynamic actuating fields. In our approach, themotion of micro-robots is controlled by changing the actuatingdirection of a field applied to them. The time-series sequenceof actuating field’s directions can be computed automatically.Given a target position in the domain of swarm, a governingfield is first constructed to provide optimal moving directions atevery points. Following these directions, a robot can be drivento the target efficiently. However, when working with a crowd ofmicro-robots, the optimal moving directions on different agentscan contradict with each other. To overcome this difficulty, wedevelop a novel steering algorithm to compute a statisticallyoptimal actuating direction at each time frame. Following asequence of these actuating directions, a crowd of micro-robotscan be transported to the target region effectively. Our steeringstrategy of swarm has been verified on a platform that generatesmagnetic fields with unique actuating directions. Experimentaltests taken on aggregated magnetic micro-particles are quiteencouraging.Author accepted manuscriptMaterials and Manufacturin