Bionics / Research
Soft mini-robot could place medication in a targeted manner
One day, the millimeter-sized robot could deliver drugs exactly where they are needed in the body. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have based their development on nature: the locomotion of larvae, caterpillars and jellyfish.
Its mobility makes this soft mini-robot unique: scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have developed a magnetically controlled miniature robot that can crawl, swim, jump and carry loads. The research team reports in the journal 'Nature' that it may one day be able to wirelessly place medication in the human body exactly where it is needed.
According to the experts, they drew inspiration from nature, from beetle larvae, caterpillars and even jellyfish. While other miniature robots quickly reach their limits on rough terrain, the Stuttgart model can easily change its mode of locomotion: first crawling, then rolling or swimming. It is four millimetres small, as flat as a rectangular sheet of paper and made of soft, elastic polymer.
The robot is controlled by an external magnetic field. Magnetic particles are embedded in the polymer layer of the robot, similar to raisins in cake batter. This allows the researchers to change the shape from the outside and move the robot. It can walk or roll, jump over obstacles, crawl through narrow tubes and swim on or in a liquid, as the researchers reported.
It can also grasp and transport objects and place them in a targeted manner. "We want to use it for minimally invasive procedures on patients," says Metin Sitti, Director of the Department of Physical Intelligence, "either by the patient swallowing the robot or by us inserting it into the body through a small opening in the skin." From there, the robot can then move through the digestive tract or through the bladder, or up to the heart.
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