World’s smallest medical robot sets Guinness record
USA Scientists have set a new Guinness World Record by creating the smallest medical robot a device measuring just 120 nanometres that could assist in future cancer and Alzheimer’s treatments.
The series of nanorobots was created by Soutik Betal during his doctoral research in Electrical Engineering under the guidance of professors Ruyan Guo and Amar S Bhalla in the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and they could one day lead to huge medical advancements.
“We have developed nanocomposite particles that can be remotely controlled by an electromagnetic field. They function like extremely tiny robots that interact with biological cells,” said Ruyan Guo, a professor at UTSA. The nanocomposites are made of two different types of multifunctional oxide materials in a “core and shell” configuration. The core is magnetic and changes ‘shape’ in response to magnetic fields. The ferroelectric shell is converts pressure into electric potentials. The magnetoelastoelectric coupled effect in the nanocomposites act as arms and legs that move the nanoparticle around to interact with targeted biological cells.
The nanorobots can move cells to align with one another, push cells into different locations and possibly be used to deliver medication into a cell. The experimental demonstration of UTSA’s remotely controlled medical robot was performed in late 2016. While the fabrication of coreshell structured materials have been developed through international research exchanges with collaborators in Brazil, the team discovered and Betal demonstrated the nanocomposites produced permeable motion.
“Their abilities leave room for much hope,” Guo said. “We believe cancerous cells may be specifically targeted for treatment eliminating the need for some chemotherapy treatments, and Alzheimer’s disease victims could possibly receive special treatments by aligning cells which have ceased to live in the brain,” he said. UTSA is ranked among the nation’s top five young universities, according to Times Higher Education. (Popsci)