{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T16:25:32Z","timestamp":1785860732550,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,6]],"date-time":"2023-01-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1672963200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52175556"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52175556"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["0045\/2021\/APD"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0045\/2021\/APD"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["0153\/2019\/A3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0153\/2019\/A3"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["0102\/2022\/A2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0102\/2022\/A2"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["MYRG2019-00133-FST"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MYRG2019-00133-FST"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["MYRG2022-00068-FST"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MYRG2022-00068-FST"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"The Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR","award":["52175556"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52175556"]}]},{"name":"The Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR","award":["0045\/2021\/APD"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0045\/2021\/APD"]}]},{"name":"The Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR","award":["0153\/2019\/A3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0153\/2019\/A3"]}]},{"name":"The Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR","award":["0102\/2022\/A2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0102\/2022\/A2"]}]},{"name":"The Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR","award":["MYRG2019-00133-FST"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MYRG2019-00133-FST"]}]},{"name":"The Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR","award":["MYRG2022-00068-FST"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MYRG2022-00068-FST"]}]},{"name":"University of Macau","award":["52175556"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52175556"]}]},{"name":"University of Macau","award":["0045\/2021\/APD"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0045\/2021\/APD"]}]},{"name":"University of Macau","award":["0153\/2019\/A3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0153\/2019\/A3"]}]},{"name":"University of Macau","award":["0102\/2022\/A2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["0102\/2022\/A2"]}]},{"name":"University of Macau","award":["MYRG2019-00133-FST"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MYRG2019-00133-FST"]}]},{"name":"University of Macau","award":["MYRG2022-00068-FST"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MYRG2022-00068-FST"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biomimetics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Rather than using longitudinal \u201cmuscle\u201d as in biological inchworm, the existing magnetic active elastomer (MAE)-based inchworm robots utilize magnetic torque to pull and push the soft body, which hinders its locomotion mobility. In this paper, a new pre-strained MAE inchworm millirobot with micropillars is proposed. The pre-strained elastomer serves as a pre-load muscle to contract the soft body, and the micropillars act as tiny feet to anchor the body during the locomotion. The proposed magnetic inchworm robot features a simple fabrication process that does not require special magnetization equipment. For the first time, the pre-load muscle is introduced in the design of magnetic inchworm robots, making it more like a real inchworm in terms of locomotion mechanism. The locomotion principle and parametric design for the desired locomotion performance have been investigated. Experimental results show that the fabricated magnetic inchworm robot (size: 10 mm \u00d7 5 mm, micropillars length: 200 \u00b5m, and mass: 262 g) can locomote on a smooth acrylic surface (roughness of 0.3 \u00b5m) at the speed of 0.125 body lengths per second, which is comparable with the existing magnetic inchworm robots. Moreover, the locomotion capabilities of the inchworm robot on wet surfaces and inclined planes have been verified via experimental studies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biomimetics8010022","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,6]],"date-time":"2023-01-06T01:48:19Z","timestamp":1672969699000},"page":"22","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["Design of a Magnetic Soft Inchworm Millirobot Based on Pre-Strained Elastomer with Micropillars"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9443-5408","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuzhang","family":"Wei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electromechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8865-7271","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zehao","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electromechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ziyi","family":"Dai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bingpu","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1700-322X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qingsong","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electromechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2000186","DOI":"10.1002\/aisy.202000186","article-title":"Magnetically controlled soft robotics utilizing elastomers and gels in actuation: A review","volume":"3","author":"Chung","year":"2021","journal-title":"Adv. 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