Data from: Fluidic torque-enabled object manipulation by microrobot collectives

Micro-scale systems experience strong viscous interactions because of the
low-Reynolds-number regime in which they exist. This means that fluidic
manipulation and actuation of passive objects can be enabled and
influenced by the individual spin rate of micro-scale agents, the number
of agents, and their positions relative to the objects. We explore these
parameter spaces and find that the fluidic torque generated by a magnetic
microrobot collective can be exploited to apply bidirectional torque to
concentric ring structures and demonstrate this through physical
experiments and numerical simulations. Additionally, we demonstrate how
the fluidic torque of the microrobots can be exploited to actuate gear
trains, rotate comparatively large 3D objects, dynamically self-assemble
internally driven ring structures, and absorb and expel large numbers of
circular objects. Finally, we show emergent behaviors where the microrobot
collective’s morphology and method of locomotion change as a function of
the spin rate of the microrobots and the size and shape of the surrounding
objects.