News and Media

SonoTextiles on the cover of Nature Electronics

Steerable acoustically powered starfish-inspired microrobot, Nanoscale (cover article), 2024.

Introducing a microrobot utilizing a magnetized soft composite for long-term stable acoustic propulsion, guided navigation, and viscous mixing through artificial cilia

SonoTransformers: Transformable Acoustically Activated Wireless Microscale Machines, PNAS, 2024.

We propose acoustically controlled soft micromachines with ultrafast transformations that leverage preprogrammed soft hinges with different stiffnesses.  

Ultrasound trapping and navigation of microrobots in the mouse brain vasculature, Nature Communications, 2023.

The intricate and delicate anatomy of the brain poses significant challenges for the treatment of cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, precise local drug delivery in hard-to-reach brain regions remains an urgent medical need. Here, we introduce ultrasound-activated microrobots for in vivo navigation in brain vasculature. Our microrobots consist of lipid-shelled microbubbles that autonomously aggregate and propel under ultrasound irradiation.

Rolling microswarms along acoustic virtual walls, Nature Communications

Exciting new work that emphasizes rolling motion at the microscale. So far, this type of propulsion has been constrained by the requirement of a physical boundary to break the spatial homogeneity of surrounding mediums, which limits its prospects for navigation to locations with no boundaries. Here, in the absence of real boundaries, we show that microswarms can execute rolling along virtual walls in liquids, impelled by a combination of magnetic and acoustic fields.

Ultrasound-Controlled Swarmbots Under Physiological Flow Conditions. Advanced Materials Interfaces, 2022

We present great results on controlled navigation of swarmbots within mice blood and under pulsatile flow conditions of 100 beats per minute (bpm); an adult human heart at rest executes between 60 and 100 bpm. This capability represents a much-needed pathway for advancing preclinical research.