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Nanobots to Assemble Medical Devices inside your Body

Nanotechnology is being explored by scientists to provide solutions for various treatments

such as cancer and healing of wounds. A study has been published in the Advanced

Functional Materials showing that there is a possibility of developing mini-robots that can

carry out delicate functions in the human body. The nanotechnologies will have special

abilities to swim in the bloodstream and go ahead ‘to assemble medical devices’ in the

human body. The aim of the scientists is to make things that are small enough to get into

the body easily with the aim of creating a nano-doctor.

Dr. Metin Sitti of Carnegie Mellon University and Dr.Eric Diller have used magnetic rods to

create an uncomplicated version of micro-robots. Each micro-robot is approximately one

millimeter long and has two gripping arms. A human doctor will be able to operate the

micro-robots by employing magnetic field forces to enable the movement of the robots and

to operate the grippers. Currently, the completed experiments show that the nanorobots

have the capacity of transporting minute objects as well as constructing bridges using the

rods. According to Sitti, future inventions are expected to be injected into the blood system,

alongside other parts of micro-machines and can swim to a wound.

The nanorobot will then put up a medical device but remain afloat in the bloodstream.

Food and drug administration-pill cameras have been in existence since 2001, but the

technology is very basic compared to nanorobots. These cameras carry out imaging roles

but they do not have their self-driven propulsion system, and therefore they require the

operation of a doctor to move through the body. Dr. Sitti is hence working on a new capsule

with greater capabilities compared to the existing versions. The new capsule – a

therapeutic capsule endoscope should possess two magnets on either side to allow the

doctor to maneuver it externally.

The new technology will also allow the doctor to spin and twist the nanorobot capsule from

inside the patient’s body. The capsule is created from a flexible elastomer, which can also

allow the doctor to adjust the shape of the capsule. The doctor can place a drug inside a

chamber at the middle of the capsule that enables him to inject medicine to a particular

area by altering the form of the capsule. Once he has obtained reliable control, the

capabilities of the device can be increased and the capsule can also be adjusted to perform

other functions such as tissue biopsy and cauterizing or cleaning sites affected by wounds.

About SaMaterials: http://www.samaterials.com/

Stanford Advanced Materials (SAM) Corporation is a global supplier of a series of pure metals,

alloys, ceramics and minerals such as oxides, chlorides, sulfides, oxysalts, etc. Our headquarter,

located in Irvine, California, USA, was first established in 1994, starting to provide high-

quality rare-earth products for research and development (R&D).