The most recent piece of robotics genius is a small micro-motor that can
recognize, capture, and transport individual cells. It's a significant
engineering achievement with applications in everything from air
purification to medicine.
Importantly, the gadget can be controlled by both electric and magnetic
fields; the latter will be essential if the small robot is ever used inside
the human body, as its creators hope.
The bot is built of a specially designed polystyrene sphere that is covered
with the conductive metals chromium, nickel, and gold. Its size ranges from
5 to 27 micrometers.
"Biological micro-swimmers, such as bacteria and sperm cells, were the
inspiration for developing the micro-robot's ability to move autonomously,"
explains
mechanical engineer Gilad Yossifon from the University of Tel Aviv in
Israel. This is a cutting-edge field of study that is expanding quickly and
has a wide range of applications.
There is a long list of outstanding skills for this micro-motor. It can
travel between cells, distinguish between various cell types, determine if a
cell is healthy or dying, transport cells, and deliver medications or a
particular gene to a cell.
The bot was employed by the researchers to collect a single bacteria, a
single blood cell, and a single cancer cell. Although it hasn't been tested
within the human body, one place where it may work well is there.
The micro-motor may someday be able to assist with some cancer therapies by
recognizing cells that are dying themselves within the body since it
naturally recognizes cell state through electrical impulses.
According
to Yossifon, "Our new invention significantly advances technology in two key
areas: hybrid propulsion and navigation by two distinct mechanisms, electric
and magnetic."
The micro-robot also has a better capacity to locate and seize a single
cell without the requirement for labeling, either for recovery and transfer
to an external instrument or for local testing.
Single-cell analysis is one application where this new robot has a lot of
potential. As the name implies, scientists study the behavior and
characteristics of individual cells rather than the behavior of a larger
biological system.
There is a lot of potential here; think of how many of these micromotors
might transport medications within the body or remove contaminants from the
environment.
According to the researchers, the novel device may also be useful in liquid
biopsies, which are circumstances when blood or another sort of biological
fluid has to be collected and examined.
According to Yossifon, "this research was done on biological samples in the
lab for in-vitro assays, but the intention is to develop micro-robots that
will also work inside the body in the future - for example, as effective
drug carriers that can be precisely guided to the target."
The research has been published in
Advanced Science.
