Taking inspiration from the starfish larva, Swiss researchers have succeeded in creating a microrobot capable of moving in water. Powered by external ultrasound machine, it could be used to deliver drug doses into human body very precisely.
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Often times, nature already has an answer to problems, such as moving a tiny object in a liquid. Researchers from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich managed to create a mini robot measuring only a quarter of a millimeter and able to move around the human body imitating the larvae d’starfish. Their article was published in the journal Nature Communications.
The larva has developed a very special technique for moving, thanks to hundreds of thousands of eyelashes that cover his body. By moving in a coordinated fashion, these little hairs create swirls in the water around. The researchers managed to recreate this system on their robot thanks to the photolithographie.
The movement of the robot was evidenced by microbeads in the water. © ETH Zurich
A robot that advances thanks to the beating of the eyelashes
This tiny robot of course has no internal power. It depends on an external source ofultrasound to vibrate its eyelashes 10,000 times per second, i.e. 1,000 times faster than those of the larva ofstar sea. This creates a vortex at the front of the device that pulls it, and one at the back that pushes it. The robot is able to advance in a straight line, and the flow produced is almost identical to that created by the larva.
The use of ultrasound could facilitate its adoption in medicine. Ultrasound devices are already very common and accessible in all countries, and the waves can penetrate the body deeply without posing a health risk. Firstly, le microrobot could handle tumors gastric by precisely administering the drugs to improve their effectiveness and reduce side effects. The researchers then want to test their robot in other non-Newtonian fluids, including blood, which could pave the way for other treatments.
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