Tell me honestly - how do you imagine robots? Perhaps, in someone's imagination, huge mechanisms with strong arms with built-in machine guns immediately appear. In reality, most robots look extremely boring, but they are capable of much more than banal firing from weapons. We recently talked about tiny robots for treating cancer, and now it's time to talk about robotic "worms" that enter the human brain and treat stroke. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?
They were developed by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in the future may well save surgeons from the need to conduct open brain surgery. In an article published in the scientific journal Science Robotics, the developers describe their creation as a "magnetically controlled, hydrogel-coated robotic filament." The core of the robot is made of an alloy of nickel and titanium, which is moderately hard and has good flexibility.
How does a magnetic robot work?
So, the design of the robot is quite simple, so the question arises - how can it get to the brain? The secret lies in the fact that the core is covered with a layer of rubber with the addition of magnetic particles. Also, on top of this whole structure there is an additional layer of soft hydrogel. Thanks to all this, the robot can be safely placed in a blood vessel and controlled by moving a powerful magnet over the patient's body.
The developers demonstrated their technology by placing a robotic "worm" inside a plastic labyrinth that mimics the human circulatory system. Judging by the video, the researchers can quite easily and accurately control the robot using a magnet placed on top of it. They are confident that the robot will not cause any harm to the real blood vessels - the hydrogel is extremely soft and gently glides over the sensitive surfaces of the human body.
Promotional video:
Stroke treatment with robots
The researchers believe that the magnetic robot can easily reach the brain and remove the blood clots that have formed in it. Let us recall that it is precisely the circulatory disorders in the brain that are the cause of stroke, heart attack and other fatal diseases. Previously, to eliminate such problems, surgeons had to either perform open surgery or use catheters, which must be monitored with X-ray equipment.
Doctors, of course, do not want to expose themselves to radiation, so magnetic robots for such operations will come in handy. They can be controlled remotely, for example, by placing a robotic arm with a built-in magnet in the operating room. Surgeons will be able to remotely control a magnetic robot and bring it to the brain, also controlling its movements using X-rays. But at the same time, doctors will not expose themselves to radiation.
The question may arise - why patients can be kept under X-rays, but doctors cannot? The fact is that patients do not undergo surgery so often, but surgeons save lives every day. It turns out that they are exposed to much more radiation than patients.
Ramis Ganiev
