Koreans made a swarm of microbots drag a caterpillar by the tail, swim and lift loads

The swarming behavior of microbots is easier to direct to perform a task than to force an individual robot to do the same job. A swarm is mutual assistance and interchangeability to achieve one goal. Swarms of microbots could help in medicine by minimizing surgical interventions, or in agriculture by controlling pests. Scientists from South Korea have studied the ability of microbots to take collective action, implementing process control for the first time.

Image source: AI generation Kandinsky 3.1/3DNews

Scientists made microbots of the same type from epoxy resin – in the shape of dominoes, only 0.6 mm in size each. To control the microbots, grains of the rare earth magnet NdFeB (neodymium-iron-boron) were added to them. There were three types of microbots: with transverse poles, diagonal and longitudinal. Each swarm of identically magnetized microbots consisted of 1000 units. Together they were capable of much.

Under the control of a rotating magnetic field, a swarm of transversely magnetized bots self-organized to overcome obstacles five times wider than the body length of an individual microbot. A swarm of microbots with diagonal magnetization swam willingly and could wrap itself around a pill 2000 times heavier than the swarm itself, and then swim with it, conditionally delivering the medicine to its intended destination.

Image source: Cell 2024

On a solid surface, the swarm was dragging a load 350 times heavier than each individual microbot. Scientists also simulated the cleaning of human blood vessels by a swarm. Finally, under the control of a magnetic field, the swarm dragged a caterpillar across the table, demonstrating the possibility of a targeted effect on “small organisms.” Individual microbots were clearly out of work, but teamwork achieved its goals.

«The high adaptability of microrobot swarms to the environment and the high level of autonomy in controlling the swarm were surprising, says study author Jeong Jae Wie of Hanyang University in Seoul, South Korea. “Although the research results are promising, swarms will need higher levels of autonomy before they are ready for use in the real world.”