Micro Swimming Robots
Micro Swimming Robots for medical applications
Goal: Developing a microrobot which can travel to currently inaccessible parts of the body and perform user directed tasks such as highly localized drug delivery and screening for diseases that are in their very early stages.
Approach: For such a miniature device to be injected into the body, it has to be 800 µm or smaller in diameter. Miniature, safe and energy efficient propulsion systems hold the key to maturing this technology but they pose significant challenges. Scaling the macroscale swimmimg mechanisms to micro/nano length scales is unfeasible. It has been estimated that a vibrating-fin driven swimming robot shorter than 6 mm can not overcome the viscous drag forces in water. The objective of this fundamental research effort is to explore swimming mechanisms at small length scales and develop a biomimetic swimming robot inspired by micro-organisms motility mechanism. We propose a new type of propulsion inspired by the motility mechanism of bacteria with peritrichous flagellation, such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Serratia marcescens. These robots are intended to swim in stagnation/low velocity biofluid. Potential target regions to use these robots include the urinary system.
Current Status:Prior to fabrication of the microrobot, the perfomance of the propulsive systems is predicted by modeling the dynamics of the motion. The motion of the moving organelle along with the body is simulated and key parameters such as velocity, force distribution and power requirments for different configurations are determined theoretically. In order to validate the theoretical result, a scaled up prototype of the swimming robot is fabricated and characterized in silicone oil using the Buckingham PI theorem for scaling. The results are compared with the theoretically computed values. These robots are intended to swim in stagnation/low velocity biofluid and reach currently inaccessible areas of the human body for disease inspection and possibly treatment. Potential target regions to use these robots include eyeball cavity, cerebrospinal fluid and the urinary system.
Benefits: We envision this robot having the capability to swim to inaccessible areas in human body and perform complicated user directed tasks such as diagnosis of diseases at early stages and targeted drug delivery.
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Goal: Developing a microrobot which can travel to currently inaccessible parts of the body and perform user directed tasks such as highly localized drug delivery and screening for diseases that are in their very early stages.
Approach: For such a miniature device to be injected into the body, it has to be 800 µm or smaller in diameter. Miniature, safe and energy efficient propulsion systems hold the key to maturing this technology but they pose significant challenges. Scaling the macroscale swimmimg mechanisms to micro/nano length scales is unfeasible. It has been estimated that a vibrating-fin driven swimming robot shorter than 6 mm can not overcome the viscous drag forces in water. The objective of this fundamental research effort is to explore swimming mechanisms at small length scales and develop a biomimetic swimming robot inspired by micro-organisms motility mechanism. We propose a new type of propulsion inspired by the motility mechanism of bacteria with peritrichous flagellation, such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Serratia marcescens. These robots are intended to swim in stagnation/low velocity biofluid. Potential target regions to use these robots include the urinary system.
Current Status:Prior to fabrication of the microrobot, the perfomance of the propulsive systems is predicted by modeling the dynamics of the motion. The motion of the moving organelle along with the body is simulated and key parameters such as velocity, force distribution and power requirments for different configurations are determined theoretically. In order to validate the theoretical result, a scaled up prototype of the swimming robot is fabricated and characterized in silicone oil using the Buckingham PI theorem for scaling. The results are compared with the theoretically computed values. These robots are intended to swim in stagnation/low velocity biofluid and reach currently inaccessible areas of the human body for disease inspection and possibly treatment. Potential target regions to use these robots include eyeball cavity, cerebrospinal fluid and the urinary system.
Benefits: We envision this robot having the capability to swim to inaccessible areas in human body and perform complicated user directed tasks such as diagnosis of diseases at early stages and targeted drug delivery.
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posted by Regulus Berdin at 9:57 PM
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