A ferrofluid-based robotic sheet for liquid manipulation by using vibration control

Abstract

This paper describes the vibration control of a ferrofluid-based robotic sheet for liquid manipulation. The robotic sheet consists of a ferrofluid wrapped with thin polytetrafluoroethylene sheets. The robotic sheet is able to move the object using the shape deformation properties of the ferrofluid owing to the influence of a magnetic field. On the basis of the previous findings regarding the flexibility of the robotic sheet, we hypothesized that we could manipulate objects whose shape changes dynamically, such as fluids. In this paper, we examine the mixing and transport of a liquid using a robotic sheet. The liquid was mixed by applying a pulsed magnetic field from an electromagnet to the robotic sheet to generate vibration. Moreover, liquid transport was realized by using the gradient of the robotic sheet surface.