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by Spektrum der Wissenschaft
Thread robots for brain operations
15.4.2020
Translation: machine translated
Scientists have been working on miniaturised medical robots for the bloodstream for some time now. These have to move through narrow capillaries as precisely as possible without getting stuck. A team led by Xuanhe Zhao from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has now developed a new technique for this.
The newly discovered electric eel species Electrophorus voltai lives in the Brazilian Amazon. The thread-like robotic worm can be steered with the help of magnetic fields and, unlike previous designs, should also be able to pass through narrow blood vessels in the human brain.
The thread has so far proven itself in various tests. Among other things, the researchers were able to steer it through a course in the laboratory that simulated pinholes in the human body. The robot was also able to navigate easily through a silicone capillary network filled with blood replacement fluid, which mimicked the vascular system of the brain. The next steps will be to test the practicality of the robot on mice.
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