Computer graphic of a microvehicle with iron wheels (gold) and a polymer chassis (red). The vehicle measures just 0.25 millimetres long.
CREDIT : (Visualisations: Alcântara et al. Nature Communications 2020)
Robots so tiny that they can manoeuvre through our blood vessels and deliver medications to certain points in the body – researchers have been pursuing this goal for years.
Now, scientists at ETH Zurich have succeeded for the first time in building such “micromachines” out of metal and plastic, in which these two materials are interlocked as closely as links in a chain. This is possible thanks to a new manufacturing technique they have devised.
“Metals and polymers have different properties, and both materials offer certain advantages in building micromachines. Our goal was to benefit from all these properties simultaneously by combining the two,” explains Carlos Alcântara, formerly a doctoral student in Salvador Pané’s group at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems and one of the two lead authors of the paper. As a rule, micromachines are powered from outside the body using magnetic fields, which means they must have magnetic metal parts installed. Polymers, in contrast, have the advantage that they can be used to construct soft, flexible components as well as parts that dissolve inside the body. If medication is embedded in this kind of soluble polymer, it is possible to selectively supply active substances to certain points in the body.
High-tech production method
Underpinning the new manufacturing method is the expertise of ETH Professor Salvador Pané. For years, he has been working with a high-precision 3D printing technique that produces complex objects on the micrometre level, a technique known as 3D lithography. The ETH scientists applied this method to produce a kind of mould or template for their micromachines. These templates have narrow grooves that serve as a “negative” and can be filled with the chosen materials.
Using electrochemical deposition, the scientists fill some of the grooves with metal and others with polymers before ultimately dissolving the template away with solvents. “Our interdisciplinary group consists of electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, chemists, and materials scientists who all work closely together. That was the key to developing this method,” says Fabian Landers, a doctoral student in Pané’s group. He is the other lead author of the paper, which has been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Vehicle with tiny magnetic wheels
As a proof of principle for making micromachines by interlocking materials, the ETH scientists created various miniscule vehicles with plastic chassis and magnetic metal wheels powered by means of a rotating magnetic field. Some of the vehicles can be propelled across a glass surface, while others – depending on the polymer used – can float in liquid or on a liquid surface.
The scientists are now planning to refine their two-component micromachines and experiment with other materials. In addition, they will attempt to create more complex shapes and machines, including some that can fold and unfold themselves. Besides serving as “ferries” that distribute active substances, future applications of micromachines include treating aneurysms (bulges in blood vessels) or performing other surgical procedures. Another research goal is to make stents (tube shaped vessel supports) that unfold themselves and can be positioned at a specific place in the body using magnetic fields.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Micromachines
- Atari Is Bringing Back The Infogrames Label (And My Childhood)
Atari has revealed that it’s bringing back an iconic video game label that nearly everyone who played games regularly between the 80s and early 2000s would have seen numerous times – Infogrames.
- Beastly Mini PC Packing A Ryzen 9 7940HS And 70W TDP Breaks Cover At Retail
Nothing—that's exactly what the company's "Dragon Range" Ryzen 7045HX CPUs are. Going the other way is less common, but it's starting to become a trend with Minisforum. We looked at the company's ...
- Sebastine Omeh, engineer with research to invent wind-propelled turbines for electricity
A Nigerian electrical engineer, Sebastine Omeh, contributed to the research into the use of wind-propelled turbines to generate electricity.
- MOV Career Connect Job Fair shows local job opportunities
Ohio Valley Career Connect Job Fair was held Wednesday at the Washington County Fairgrounds.Employers from all over the MOV came together at the Junior Fair Building to show junior and senior high ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Micromachines
[google_news title=”” keyword=”micromachines” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Microrobots
- Carbon-Based Tiny Robots Could Revolutionize Various Industries
In explaining his research, the professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering alludes to the 1966 science-fiction film Fantastic Voyage, about a submarine vessel and its crew shrunk to microsc ...
- Health Headlines: Microbots deliver life-saving care
Wyatt Shields, IV, PhD, Chemical & Biological Engineer at University of Colorado, Boulder says, “Medical microrobots are, essentially, microscale devices. So, we’re talking devices five to 10 times ...
- 15 Silly Societal Rules People Still Follow for No Good Reason
Rules are the skeletal muscles of life; without them, civilization would be severely crippled. While rules make life liveable and people civil, we follow some without knowing how they started or why.
- Rechargeable Afterglow Nanotorches for in-vivo Tracking of Cell-Based Microrobots
An afterglow luminescent nanoprobe expands the potential for imaging live cells. According to a study published in Angewandte Chemie , a novel “nanotorch” could light up for more than 10 days ...
- A rechargeable nanotorch: Afterglow luminescence imaging tracks cell-based microrobots in real time
An afterglow luminescent nanoprobe opens up new possibilities for imaging living cells. As a research team reports in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, their new "nanotorch" can ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Microrobots
[google_news title=”” keyword=”microrobots” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]