Magnetic Robot and Manipulation for Active-Locomotion With Targeted Drug Release

In this paper, we propose a new mechanism for targeted drug release based on active locomotion. The manipulating method is a magnetic torque control based on a rotating magnetic field using a three-axis Helmholtz coil system. The applied magnetic field creates two rolling (radial and longitudinal directions) and a rotating motion for active locomotion according to variations in the working space and robot posture. Two spiral components in the robot mechanism and the rotating motion completely conduct and control the drug release. Magnetic attractive force between the two spiral components prevents drug leakage during the movement for targeting. When the robot arrives at the destination, the robot switches the direction of the thrust force of the two spiral components to separate the robot body for the drug release. The thrust force for the drug release is higher than the magnetic attractive force. We verified the rapid active locomotion and targeted drug release using precise control through various experiments. In our assessment, the proposed robot mechanism can realize the role of a functional medical robot for therapy and diagnosis.