Femtosecond laser programmed artificial musculoskeletal systems.

Journal: Nature communications
PMID: 32913189

Abstract

Natural musculoskeletal systems have been widely recognized as an advanced robotic model for designing robust yet flexible microbots. However, the development of artificial musculoskeletal systems at micro-nanoscale currently remains a big challenge, since it requires precise assembly of two or more materials of distinct properties into complex 3D micro/nanostructures. In this study, we report femtosecond laser programmed artificial musculoskeletal systems for prototyping 3D microbots, using relatively stiff SU-8 as the skeleton and pH-responsive protein (bovine serum albumin, BSA) as the smart muscle. To realize the programmable integration of the two materials into a 3D configuration, a successive on-chip two-photon polymerization (TPP) strategy that enables structuring two photosensitive materials sequentially within a predesigned configuration was proposed. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate a pH-responsive spider microbot and a 3D smart micro-gripper that enables controllable grabbing and releasing. Our strategy provides a universal protocol for directly printing 3D microbots composed of multiple materials.

Authors

  • Zhuo-Chen Ma
    State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, China.
  • Yong-Lai Zhang
    State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, China. yonglaizhang@jlu.edu.cn.
  • Bing Han
    Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin, China.
  • Xin-Yu Hu
    State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, China.
  • Chun-He Li
    State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, China.
  • Qi-Dai Chen
    State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, China.
  • Hong-Bo Sun
    State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, China. hbsun@tsinghua.edu.cn.

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