VLP-based model for the study of airborne viral pathogens.

Unlabelled: The recent COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the danger of airborne viral pathogens. The lack of model systems to study airborne pathogens limits the understanding of airborne pathogen distribution as well as potential surveillance and mitigation strategies. In this work, we develop a novel model system to study airborne pathogens using virus-like particles (VLPs).

VLP-Based Model for Study of Airborne Viral Pathogens.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the danger of airborne viral pathogens. The lack of model systems to study airborne pathogens limits the understanding of airborne pathogen distribution, as well as potential surveillance and mitigation strategies. In this work, we develop a novel model system to study airborne pathogens using virus like particles (VLP).

Towards Microscale Flight: Fabrication, Stability Analysis, and Initial Flight Experiments for 300 μm × 300 μm × 1.5 μm Sized Untethered MEMS Microfliers.

This paper presents modeling, designs, and initial experimental results demonstrating successful untethered microscale flight of stress-engineered microscale structures propelled by thermal forces. These MEMS Microfliers are 300 μm×300 μm×1.5 μm in size and are fabricated out of polycrystalline silicon using a surface micromachining process.

Planning and Control for Microassembly of Structures Composed of Stress-Engineered MEMS Microrobots.

We present control strategies that implement planar microassembly using groups of stress-engineered MEMS microrobots (MicroStressBots) controlled through a single global control signal. The global control signal couples the motion of the devices, causing the system to be highly underactuated. In order for the robots to assemble into arbitrary planar shapes despite the high degree of underactuation, it is desirable that each robot be independently maneuverable (independently controllable).