Nanorobots-tadpoles

DailyTechInfo based on Gizmag: Nanorobots wade through blood to deliver drugsThe use of nanorobots has long been considered as one of the very promising areas of medical development.

Controlled from the outside or operating independently, tiny mechanisms are able to deliver loads of medicines strictly to the necessary places, which reduces the manifestation of side effects and avoids the need for aggressive methods of treating certain diseases. The best way to move nanorobots inside the patient's body is his circulatory system, using the natural movement of blood, nanorobots can get to the most secluded corners of the human body.

But, unfortunately, modern technologies do not yet allow the creation of nanorobots with freedom of action. Such tiny mechanisms still need to be controlled from the outside, and a group of scientists from Switzerland and Israel has developed a new method that allows nanobots to quickly move inside the body and reach a given destination.

At one time, we talked about the development of nanorobots that are equipped with their own micro-reactive or mechanical engines that draw the energy they need from the environment. But the most promising direction is considered to be the technology of magnetic motion control of nanobots and nanoparticles, which completely eliminates any side effects and harm to the patient's body. 

Scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and the Israeli Technion Institute of Technology have developed a new type of nanorobots capable of moving quickly and easily in an environment of viscous liquids of biological origin. The nanorobot consists of a polymer body, inside of which two short nanowires made of magnetic metal are inserted. This forms a "chain" of three parts, the length of which does not exceed the thickness of the silk fiber. But despite such small dimensions, these tiny nanorobots are able to move in a liquid even more viscous than human blood.

The movement of nanorobots is controlled by an alternating magnetic field, which causes the robots to bend and move like the tail of a tadpole. During the first experiments, nanorobots moved, moving in one second to a distance equal to their length. In addition, by changing the parameters of the alternating magnetic field, researchers can control the direction and speed of movement of nanorobots, directing them strictly to a given location.

A diagram from the article by Jang et al. Undulatory Locomotion of Magnetic Multilink Nanoswimmers,
published in Nano Letters – VM.

And in the video below you can see the developed nanorobots in action.

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29.06.2015