Thread robots for brain operations

Spektrum der Wissenschaft

15.4.2020

Translation: machine translated

Scientists have been working on miniaturised medical robots for the bloodstream for some time now. These have to move through narrow capillaries as precisely as possible without getting stuck. A team led by Xuanhe Zhao from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has now developed a new technique for this.

The newly discovered electric eel species Electrophorus voltai lives in the Brazilian Amazon. The thread-like robotic worm can be steered with the help of magnetic fields and, unlike previous designs, should also be able to pass through narrow blood vessels in the human brain.

There it could, for example, dissolve the smallest blockages after strokes. This usually involves a blood clot blocking a cerebral artery or a leak in the cerebral vessels. Doctors then have to act quickly to save the patient's life and minimise consequential damage to the brain tissue. The researchers believe that mini-robots could save time in such situations and supplement conventional brain surgery. Their specially designed specimen has a diameter of just 0.6 millimetres and is made of a nickel-titanium alloy with shape memory that bends back into its original position after every movement. The material is coated with a hydrogel that reduces friction on tissue structures to around one tenth.

The thread has so far proven itself in various tests. Among other things, the researchers were able to steer it through a course in the laboratory that simulated pinholes in the human body. The robot was also able to navigate easily through a silicone capillary network filled with blood replacement fluid, which mimicked the vascular system of the brain. The next steps will be to test the practicality of the robot on mice.

Spectrum of Science

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