Non-contact manipulation for automated protein crystal harvesting using a rolling microrobot

In this work, a magnetic visual control system for automated protein crystal harvesting is proposed. The system consists of a rod-shaped microrobot, a magnetic actuation system and a visual control system. A rotating magnetic field induces the microrobot to roll on the supporting surface, thereby creating a vortex in a liquid environment. This vortex enables the robot to trap and transport even delicate objects in a non-contact manner to a pre-defined position. We present the micro-agent, the actuation system and the visual control system to achieve this automated procedure.

[1]  Li Zhang,et al.  Targeted cargo delivery using a rotating nickel nanowire. , 2012, Nanomedicine : nanotechnology, biology, and medicine.

[2]  Metin Sitti,et al.  Rotating magnetic micro-robots for versatile non-contact fluidic manipulation of micro-objects , 2011, 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[3]  Bernhard Rupp,et al.  Approaches to automated protein crystal harvesting. , 2014, Acta crystallographica. Section F, Structural biology communications.

[4]  Max T. Hou,et al.  Development of rolling magnetic microrobots , 2010 .

[5]  Ramona Duman,et al.  Microcrystal manipulation with laser tweezers , 2008, Acta crystallographica. Section D, Biological crystallography.

[6]  Dominic R. Frutiger,et al.  Small, Fast, and Under Control: Wireless Resonant Magnetic Micro-agents , 2010, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[7]  Jean-Luc Ferrer,et al.  A geometrical approach for semi-automated crystal centering and in situ X-ray diffraction data collection , 2013 .

[8]  Satyandra K. Gupta,et al.  Research in Automated Planning and Control for Micromanipulation , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering.

[9]  Bradley J. Nelson,et al.  Modeling and Control of Untethered Biomicrorobots in a Fluidic Environment Using Electromagnetic Fields , 2006, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[10]  Jean-Paul Laumond,et al.  Robot Motion Planning and Control , 1998 .

[11]  Hsi-Wen Tung,et al.  Noncontact manipulation using a transversely magnetized rolling robot , 2013 .

[12]  Alois Knoll,et al.  Micro camera augmented endoscopic instruments: Towards superhuman performance in remote surgical cutting , 2012, 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[13]  Hsi-Wen Tung,et al.  Protein crystal harvesting using the RodBot: A wireless mobile microrobot , 2014 .

[14]  T. Flash,et al.  The coordination of arm movements: an experimentally confirmed mathematical model , 1985, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[15]  Claudio Melchiorri,et al.  Trajectory Planning for Automatic Machines and Robots , 2010 .

[16]  Salvador Pané,et al.  Polymer-based Wireless Resonant Magnetic microrobots , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[17]  Robert Viola,et al.  First experiences with semi-autonomous robotic harvesting of protein crystals , 2011, Journal of Structural and Functional Genomics.

[18]  S. Erni,et al.  Three-Dimensional Magnetic Manipulation of Micro- and Nanostructures for Applications in Life Sciences , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

[19]  Alexander McPherson,et al.  Operator-assisted harvesting of protein crystals using a universal micromanipulation robot , 2007, Journal of applied crystallography.