A ferrobotic system for automated microfluidic logistics.

Journal: Science robotics
PMID: 33022601

Abstract

Automated technologies that can perform massively parallelized and sequential fluidic operations at small length scales can resolve major bottlenecks encountered in various fields, including medical diagnostics, -omics, drug development, and chemical/material synthesis. Inspired by the transformational impact of automated guided vehicle systems on manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution industries, we devised a ferrobotic system that uses a network of individually addressable robots, each performing designated micro-/nanofluid manipulation-based tasks in cooperation with other robots toward a shared objective. The underlying robotic mechanism facilitating fluidic operations was realized by addressable electromagnetic actuation of miniature mobile magnets that exert localized magnetic body forces on aqueous droplets filled with biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles. The contactless and high-strength nature of the actuation mechanism inherently renders it rapid (~10 centimeters/second), repeatable (>10,000 cycles), and robust (>24 hours). The robustness and individual addressability of ferrobots provide a foundation for the deployment of a network of ferrobots to carry out cross-collaborative logistics efficiently. These traits, together with the reconfigurability of the system, were exploited to devise and integrate passive/active advanced functional components (e.g., droplet dispensing, generation, filtering, and merging), enabling versatile system-level functionalities. By applying this ferrobotic system within the framework of a microfluidic architecture, the ferrobots were tasked to work cross-collaboratively toward the quantification of active matrix metallopeptidases (a biomarker for cancer malignancy and inflammation) in human plasma, where various functionalities converged to achieve a fully automated assay.

Authors

  • Wenzhuo Yu
    Interconnected & Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (IBL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Haisong Lin
    Interconnected & Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (IBL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Yilian Wang
    Department of Cardiology, The Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China.
  • Xu He
    Interconnected & Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (IBL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Nathan Chen
    Interconnected & Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (IBL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Kevin Sun
    Interconnected & Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (IBL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Darren Lo
    Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Brian Cheng
    Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Christopher Yeung
    Interconnected & Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (IBL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Jiawei Tan
    Interconnected & Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (IBL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Dino Di Carlo
    2Department of Bioengineering, University of California, 420 Westwood Plaza, 5121 Engineering V, PO Box 951600, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA.
  • Sam Emaminejad
    Interconnected & Integrated Bioelectronics Lab (IBL), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. emaminejad@ucla.edu dicarlo@ucla.edu.

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