Scientists develop soft robot that can be used to deliver drugs in the human body

Scientists have created a tiny, soft robot with caterpillar-style legs that could be used to deliver drugs in the human body.

Developed from research led by City University of Hong Kong, the mini delivery-robot could pave the way for medical technology advancement due to its ability to carry heavy loads and be adaptable to adverse environments.

Due to its design with multi-legs, which help to reduce friction, the robot can move efficiently inside surfaces within the body lined with, or entirely immersed in, body fluids such as blood or mucus, the researchers claimed.

Read also: WhatsApp cofounder says he’s a sell-out for allowing Facebook acquire his company

There are hundreds of these legs, all less than 1mm long. The research team studied the leg structures of hundreds of ground animals including those with two, four, eight or more legs to come up with this design, in particular, the ratio between leg-length and the gap between the legs.

“Most animals have a leg-length to the leg-gap ratio of 2:1 to 1:1. So we decided to create our robot using 1:1 proportion,” explained Dr. Shen Yajing, assistant professor at the University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, who led the research.

Controlled by a magnetic manipulator used in experiments, the robot can move in both a flap propulsion pattern and an inverted pendulum pattern, meaning that it can use its front feet to flap forward as well as swinging the body by standing on the left and right feet alternately to advance respectively.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now