Control of the radial motion of a self-propelled microboat through a side rudder

Similar to macroboats, microboats can be potentially employed to transport a target from one place to another in a microfluidic system for the purposes of delivery and detection. In our previous works, we had developed a type of self-propelled microboats, which were capable of having straight motions at speeds of order 0.1m/s. In this work, using a combination of theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations, we explored another type of self-propelled microboats that could radial motions. This type of microboats had side rudders, and the radii of their radial motions could be controlled by varying the lengths of the side rudders.