microfluidics tagged posts

The octobot is powered by a chemical reaction and controlled with a soft logic board. A reaction inside the bot transforms a small amount of liquid fuel (hydrogen peroxide) into a large amount of gas, which flows into the octobot’s arms and inflates them like a balloon. The team used a microfluidic logic circuit, a soft analog of a simple electronic oscillator, to control when hydrogen peroxide decomposes to gas in the octobot. Credit: Lori Sanders

Powered by a chemical reaction controlled by microfluidics, 3D-printed ‘octobot’ has no electronics. A team of Harvard University researchers with expertise in 3D printing, mechanical engineering, and microfluidics has demonstrated the first autonomous, untethered, entirely soft robot...

Soy isoflavones and peptides may inhibit the growth of microbial pathogens that cause food-borne illnesses, according to a new study from Uni of Guelph researchers. Soybean derivatives are already a mainstay in food products, eg cooking oils, cheeses, ice cream, margarine, food spreads, canned foods and baked goods. The use of soy isoflavones and peptides to reduce microbial contamination could benefit the food industry, which currently uses synthetic additives to protect foods, says engineering professor Suresh Neethirajan, director of the BioNano Lab.

U of G researchers used microfluidics and high-throughput screening to run millions of tests in a short period. They found that soy can be a more effective antimicrobial agent than the current roster of synthetic chemicals...

Kim Plevniak, master’s student in biological and agricultural engineering at the Kansas State University Olathe campus, is using 3-D printers to make low cost, point-of-care devices that quickly detect anemia from a drop of blood. Credit: Kansas State University Olathe

Anemia affects 2 billion people worldwide, including >half of preschool children and pregnant women in developing countries and at least 30% of children and women in industrialized nations. Identifying a blood disorder may be as easy as running a blood sample from a finger prick under a smartphone. Point-of-care devices give the user fast, easy-to-understand results from a test performed outside of a lab, such as a blood glucose test or pregnancy test...

A) Classical configuration where the two rotating magnets (shown in rotation in red, green and blue arrows) share the same rotation axis (gray arrows). A similar setup is used in modern milk frothers and food mixers, as well as magnetic stirrers in chemistry labs. B) One configuration studied in this research with the rotating magnets having their rotation axes (gray arrows) perpendicular to each other. Credit: Image courtesy of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University – OIST

The new milk frother you are using to prepare your cappuccino is likely using magnetic gears. Magnetic gears transmit rotary motion like mechanical gears but instead of teeth they use magnetic attraction and repulsion between rotating magnets...