Magnetic quadrupole assemblies with arbitrary shapes and magnetizations
Open Access
- 30 October 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science Robotics
- Vol. 4 (35)
- https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.aax8977
Abstract
Magnetic dipole-dipole interactions govern the behavior of magnetic matter across scales from micrometer colloidal particles to centimeter magnetic soft robots. This pairwise long-range interaction creates rich emergent phenomena under both static and dynamic magnetic fields. However, magnetic dipole particles, from either ferromagnetic or paramagnetic materials, tend to form chain-like structures as low-energy configurations due to dipole symmetry. The repulsion force between two magnetic dipoles raises challenges for creating stable magnetic assemblies with complex two-dimensional (2D) shapes. In this work, we propose a magnetic quadrupole module that is able to form stable and frustration-free magnetic assemblies with arbitrary 2D shapes. The quadrupole structure changes the magnetic particle-particle interaction in terms of both symmetry and strength. Each module has a tunable dipole moment that allows the magnetization of overall assemblies to be programmed at the single module level. We provide a simple combinatorial design method to reach both arbitrary shapes and arbitrary magnetizations concurrently. Last, by combining modules with soft segments, we demonstrate programmable actuation of magnetic metamaterials that could be used in applications for soft robots and electromagnetic metasurfaces.Keywords
Funding Information
- European Research Council (SOMBOT (743217))
- ETH Grand (1916-1)
This publication has 38 references indexed in Scilit:
- Two-dimensional magnetic micro-module reconfigurations based on inter-modular interactionsThe International Journal of Robotics Research, 2013
- Binary colloidal structures assembled through Ising interactionsNature Communications, 2012
- Programming magnetic anisotropy in polymeric microactuatorsNature Materials, 2011
- Real-space observation of emergent magnetic monopoles and associated Dirac strings in artificial kagome spin iceNature Physics, 2010
- Self-assembled artificial ciliaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Controlled surface-induced flows from the motion of self-assembled colloidal walkersProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- Nanoscale Forces and Their Uses in Self‐AssemblySmall, 2009
- New Electric-Field-Driven Mesoscale Phase Transitions in Polarized SuspensionsPhysical Review Letters, 2005
- Quantum Effect Induced Reverse Kinetic Molecular Sieving in Microporous MaterialsPhysical Review Letters, 2005
- Zur kinetischen Theorie der einatomigen KörperAnnalen der Physik, 1903