A Review on Biomimetic Cilia Microrobots: Driving Methods, Application and Research Prospects

With the development of science and technology, microrobots have been used in medicine, biology, rescue, and many other fields. However, the microrobots have problems such as energy and motion due to miniaturization. In order to solve the problem of the energy supply of microrobots, researchers have provided more drive schemes for microrobots. Inspired by the biological cilia, the biomimetic cilia have been developed and applied to microrobots to achieve propulsion, liquid pumping, liquid mixing, and particle manipulation. This review summarizes the different driving modes of microrobots, focusing on the application of magnetic drive and optical drive in the field of micro-robots. The structure and function of biological cilia and biomimetic cilia are introduced. The application of biomimetic cilia microrobots in various fields is discussed, and the current challenges and future development trends of biomimetic cilia microrobots are summarized. This review hopes to provide useful help for researchers of biomimetic cilia microrobots.