ArticleNature materials2016
Structured light enables biomimetic swimming and versatile locomotion of photoresponsive soft microrobots.
Article in Nature materials, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 201 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
201 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reducing Nematic-Isotropic Transition Temperature Improves Phototropic Actuation in Printable Liquid Crystal Elastomers.Chemistry of materials : a publication of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- Microrobots for Precision Diagnosis and Treatment in the Digestive System: A Review of Actuation Mechanisms, Structural Design, Preclinical and Translational Applications.Micromachines · 2026Review
- Self-regulated optomechanics achieves ultrabroadband and high-efficiency all-optical devices.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2026Article
- Field-Programmable Mobile Magneto-Photonic Metaparticles for Active Light Manipulation and Steering.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Metasurface-Enabled Light-Driven Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Miniature Soft Robot With Magnetically Reprogrammable Surgical Functions.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- High-Strength, Self-Sensing Multiphase Hydrogels for Load-Bearing Actuation and Logical Human-Machine Interaction.Nano-micro letters · 2026Article
- High Center-of-Mass, Multi-Legged Soft Robots Powered by Geometrically Encoded Liquid Crystal Elastomer Arc Appendages.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Liquid Crystal Polymers as Intrinsically Magnetic and Programmable Soft Materials for Microrobotics.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Diffusion-guided 4D microprinting of soft microactuators.Nature communications · 2026Article
- A supramolecular non-mesogenic route towards autonomous liquid crystal elastomer soft robots.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Light-Driven Self-Pulsating Hydrogel with a Sliding-Delay Mechanism for Micro-Actuation and Microfluidic Applications.Micromachines · 2026Article
- MXene/Carboxymethyl Chitosan Moisture Responsive Soft Actuator with Diode-Like Actuation for Versatile Applications Driven by Human Metabolism.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Holographic Whole-Object Photopolymerization Preserving Director Alignment in Liquid Crystalline Actuators.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Dual-Laser Optical Tweezers for Photothermal Analysis of Hybrid Microgels.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Combining tethered and untethered magnetic robots via a magnetically triggerable latch for target payload delivery and retrieval.Science advances · 2026Article
- Light force-powered cellular medical micromachines.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Review
- Materials Advances for Distributed Environmental Sensor Networks at Scale.Nature reviews. Materials · 2026Article
- Directional flows using capillary assembly of photo-deformable colloidal particles at water-air interfaces.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Light-driven micro/nanobots.Nanophotonics (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Review
141 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Microorganisms move in challenging environments by periodic changes in body shape. In contrast, current artificial microrobots cannot actively deform, exhibiting at best passive bending under external fields. Here, by taking advantage of the wireless, scalable and spatiotemporally selective capabilities that light allows, we show that soft microrobots consisting of photoactive liquid-crystal elastomers can be driven by structured monochromatic light to perform sophisticated biomimetic motions. We realize continuum yet selectively addressable artificial microswimmers that generate travelling-wave motions to self-propel without external forces or torques, as well as microrobots capable of versatile locomotion behaviours on demand. Both theoretical predictions and experimental results confirm that multiple gaits, mimicking either symplectic or antiplectic metachrony of ciliate protozoa, can be achieved with single microswimmers. The principle of using structured light can be extended to other applications that require microscale actuation with sophisticated spatiotemporal coordination for advanced microrobotic technologies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.