Researchers have created a device that can remotely carry out a precise, non-invasive medical procedure on patients using a small robot or microrobot.
The device developed by researchers at SMU and George Washington University is one step closer to becoming a reality.
SMU nanotechnology expert MinJun Kim, one of the device’s creators, said: ‘Using what we call a magnetic tweezer system, an operator will be able to precisely manipulate tiny robots in a liquid environment, even from long distances. The system provides real-time feedback through a haptic device, allowing the operator to feel forces acting on the microrobots as they move or interact with their surroundings.’
Kim, the Robert C Womack Chair Professor in the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU and principal investigator of the BAST Lab, said this technology could also potentially be used for safe and precise drug delivery.
He added: ‘Since the microrobots are manipulated externally using magnetic fields, there's no need for invasive tools or procedures. This allows treatments to be delivered exactly where they are needed in a controlled and non-invasive way, reducing risks to surrounding healthy areas.’
Magnetic tweezers have the potential to enable ‘human-in-the-loop’ microrobotic procedures.
Kim said: ‘By keeping the operator in control, the system ensures safer interactions while also providing the precision needed for sensitive applications.’
Kim built the device with help from Chung Hyuk Park, who leads the Assistive Robotics and Tele-Medicine (ART-Med) Lab at George Washington University; Yasin Cagatay Duygu, a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at SMU; Xiao Zhang, a former SMU research assistant who is now a systems engineer at New York Air Brake; and Baijun Xie, a research assistant at George Washington University.
The study is published in Nanotechnology and Precision Engineering.
