By using advanced, smart materials, tiny, soft robots could be useful for medical applications like biopsies and cell/tissue transportation. (Image Credit: Waterloo Engineering/YouTube)
University of Waterloo researchers developed smart, advanced materials that serve as the building blocks for next-gen medical microbots. They say the one-centimeter-long soft robots can be useful for various minimally invasive procedures, including cell/tissue transportation to a targeted area and biopsy by moving through the human body. Due to their biocompatible and nontoxic quality, these microbots are perfect for medical applications as well.
Made of advanced hydrogel composites that include sustainable plant-based cellulose nanoparticles, the bots can be moved and controlled with precision. The coolest aspect of the hydrogel is that it has shape-changing abilities after exposure to external chemical stimulation. In turn, researchers can program the shape-change essential for fabricating functional soft robots. That's what allows them to carry out biopsies and deliver cells/tissues.
"In my research group, we are bridging the old and new," said Shahsavan, director of the Smart Materials for Advanced Robotic Technologies (SMART-Lab). "We introduce emerging microrobots by leveraging traditional soft matter like hydrogels, liquid crystals, and colloids."
Even neater, this smart material can self-heal, allowing researchers to program "a wide range in the shape of the robots." The material can be cut out and pasted back without applying glue or other adhesives so it forms a certain shape for a specific procedure.
The smart, advanced materials developed by University of Waterloo researchers allow tiny robots to move through a maze precisely. (Image Credit: Waterloo Engineering/YouTube)
Also, magnetism can alter the material, enabling the soft robots to move through the human body. The team tested this by using a magnetic field to control the tiny robot's movement through a maze. Additionally, the proof of concept demonstrated the robot's ability to move through an HC1-filled environment. The team's next goal is to scale the robot down to sub-millimeter sizes.
"Chemical engineers play a critical role in pushing the frontiers of medical microrobotics research," Shahsavan said. "Interestingly, tackling the many grand challenges in microrobotics requires the skillset and knowledge chemical engineers possess, including heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics, reaction engineering, polymers, soft matter science, and biochemical systems. So, we are uniquely positioned to introduce innovative avenues in this emerging field".
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