A tiny robotic worm can wiggle its way through a model brain. It could eventually be used to make brain surgeries less invasive.
Yoonho Kim and his colleague Xuanhe Zhao at Massachusetts Institute of Technology created the robot out of a polymer with small magnetic particles embedded throughout, meaning it can be directed using a magnet. It is coated in a self-lubricating material and is less 0.6 millimetresĀ in diameter.
The pair tested the robot on aĀ silicone model of a human brain, which contained a substance that mimics blood. When controlled with a magnet held outside the brain, the robot could worm itsĀ way through hard-to-reach blood vessels.
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āThe reason why robotics couldnāt go into this domain before is the existing robots that can navigate through a blood vessel were too large in diameter,ā says Kim. Instead robots are used in the heart, where arteries are wider.
The magnetic microparticles also show up on continuous x-ray systems, so could be used to help surgeons navigate the tricky web of arteries and veins in the brain.
āI think itās really interesting ā and the clinical implications are there, if at a very early stage,ā says Eloise Matheson at Imperial College London. āThe system, how they tested it and what it shows, is really promising.ā
The next step, says Kim, is to test the device on animals, which the duo is in talks with neurosurgeons at Harvard Medical School about doing.
Science Robotics
