Design and Application of Temperature Sensitive Smart Micro-patterened Polymeric Devices

Smaller, non-invasive micro-tools have great advantage over conventional surgical tools, and many are in process of development both in academia and in industry. With the field of soft robotics flourishing more than ever, many research around the world explores potential of small polymeric micro-tools and its possible design, materials, and its applications. This thesis discusses one of many possible designs for soft robotic grippers, and its fabrication and manipulation. The soft grippers were fabricated using photo lithography using two polymeric materials, SU-8 photoresist and p(NIPAM). Utilizing LCST phase transition of P(NIPAM) at body temperature, SU-8 hinge layer allows transition of p(NIPAM) shrinking into mechanical movement. Created soft thermo-sensitive photo-patterned gripper was tetherlessly controlled through application of magnetic field, and its mechanical property were explored. Furthermore, the soft gripper’s ability to execute pick-and-place tasks in various environments with computer guided maneuvers were studied. Successive research on biodegradable magnetic grippers and multi-state smart devices with hierarchical actuation in response to applied stimuli were also introduced. This thesis discusses the potential to enhance current development in the soft-robotics, and further, surgical robotics as a minimally invasive multi-purpose tool