Magnetic Actuation Analysis of Chitosan Hydrogel Robots for Emergency Medical Applications

Extensive medical cases have substantiated the imperative need for researching rapid, precise, and convenient soft robots to assist traditional surgical methods and ensure the safety of emergency medical care required to save the lives of patients, particularly in scenarios involving unexpected mutations within the body. Hence, this paper presents the design of an emergency medical assistance robot based on biocompatible magnetic chitosan hydrogels and magnetic actuation. Firstly, a description of the designed magnetic chitosan hydrogel robot was demonstrated. Subsequently, a mechanistic analysis of the magnetic response characteristics of the magnetic chitosan hydrogel robot was conducted. The COMSOL modeling and simulation results demonstrated the feasibility of employing a rectangular permanent magnet with a gradient magnetic field distribution for robot actuation. Furthermore, precise and controllable deformation behaviors of the designed robot could be achieved by regulating the strength of the driving magnetic field, the magnetic properties of the robot, and the distance between the robot and the permanent magnet. Moreover, simulation results validated the capability of the robots to execute tapping motion, biomimetic flight, and thrombus removal through advanced structural design. The accomplishments of this study provide foundational support for the development of magnetically actuated devices in emergency medical scenarios and offer valuable insights into the deformation motion processes of magnetic actuation.