Screen-Motion-of-Ciliary-Microrobots

You may recall from elementary school science how paramecia swim in a jar of stagnant pond water. That form of locomotion, from cilia, is what South Korean engineers have modeled in microrobots that could swim though the human blood stream. These tiny tools, made of a photocurable polymer with nickel and titanium coatings, could perform surgical or drug delivery functions in clinical medicine. As the PI describes it: “With precise three-dimensional fabrication techniques and magnetic control technology, my team has developed microrobots mimicking cilia’s asymmetric reciprocation movement, which has been never realized so far. We’ll continually strive to study and experiment on microrobots that can efficiently move and operate in the human body, so that they can be utilized in chemical and cell delivery as well as in non-invasive surgery.”    MORE

Image Credit: DGIST and ScienceDaily.com