Two-dimensional manipulation of a magnetic robot using a triad of electromagnetic coils

Different magnetic navigation systems (MNSs) have been investigated for the wireless manipulation of biomedical magnetic robots. Here we propose a novel MNS simply composed of a triad of electromagnetic coils (TEC) that can effectively manipulate a magnetic robot in two-dimensional (2D) environments. We derived a constraint equation of the TEC’s input currents in order to manipulate the magnetic robot’s 2D aligning and propelling motions in a controlled manner. We also examined the TEC’s ability to manipulate those motions by simulating the TEC’s magnetic field and the corresponding magnetic force in terms of several newly defined dimensionless variables. We then constructed the proposed TEC and demonstrated several controlled 2D motions of a magnetic robot to show the validity of the proposed system and the robot manipulation method.