Advanced medical micro-robotics for early diagnosis and therapeutic interventions

Recent technological advances in micro-robotics have demonstrated their immense potential for biomedical applications. Emerging micro-robots have versatile sensing systems, flexible locomotion and dexterous manipulation capabilities that can significantly contribute to the healthcare system. Despite the appreciated and tangible benefits of medical micro-robotics, many challenges still remain. Here, we review the major challenges, current trends and significant achievements for developing versatile and intelligent micro-robotics with a focus on applications in early diagnosis and therapeutic interventions. We also consider some recent emerging micro-robotic technologies that employ synthetic biology to support a new generation of living micro-robots. We expect to inspire future development of micro-robots toward clinical translation by identifying the roadblocks that need to be overcome

Design, Actuation, and Functionalization of Untethered Soft Magnetic Robots with Life-Like Motions: A Review

Soft robots have demonstrated superior flexibility and functionality than conventional rigid robots. These versatile devices can respond to a wide range of external stimuli (including light, magnetic field, heat, electric field, etc.), and can perform sophisticated tasks. Notably, soft magnetic robots exhibit unparalleled advantages among numerous soft robots (such as untethered control, rapid response, and high safety), and have made remarkable progress in small-scale manipulation tasks and biomedical applications. Despite the promising potential, soft magnetic robots are still in their infancy and require significant advancements in terms of fabrication, design principles, and functional development to be viable for real-world applications. Recent progress shows that bionics can serve as an effective tool for developing soft robots. In light of this, the review is presented with two main goals: (i) exploring how innovative bioinspired strategies can revolutionize the design and actuation of soft magnetic robots to realize various life-like motions; (ii) examining how these bionic systems could benefit practical applications in small-scale solid/liquid manipulation and therapeutic/diagnostic-related biomedical fields

Advanced medical micro-robotics for early diagnosis and therapeutic interventions

Recent technological advances in micro-robotics have demonstrated their immense potential for biomedical applications. Emerging micro-robots have versatile sensing systems, flexible locomotion and dexterous manipulation capabilities that can significantly contribute to the healthcare system. Despite the appreciated and tangible benefits of medical micro-robotics, many challenges still remain. Here, we review the major challenges, current trends and significant achievements for developing versatile and intelligent micro-robotics with a focus on applications in early diagnosis and therapeutic interventions. We also consider some recent emerging micro-robotic technologies that employ synthetic biology to support a new generation of living micro-robots. We expect to inspire future development of micro-robots toward clinical translation by identifying the roadblocks that need to be overcome

Microdispositivos:: herramientas para aplicaciones médicas

Abstract: This article reviews the literature on the latest advances in microdevices for medical applications. The objective is to show an overview of the latest devices and their applications, as well as future development vectors in the area. A search of about 170 articles was performed, most of them published between the years 2015 and 2021, of which 53 were chosen as they were the most topical and impactful in the research fields referred to drug delivery, minimally invasive surgery, and cranial and vascular intromissions. It is concluded that, although microdevices are at an advanced stage of research, they still have many challenges to be solved, which has not allowed clinical trials to be completed in many cases. One of the great challenges ahead is to increase the precision in locomotion and to make the devices capable of performing more complex tasks with the help of smaller-scale electronic devices.Resumen: El presente artículo realiza una revisión de la literatura sobre los últimos avances en cuanto a los micro dispositivos para aplicaciones médicas. El objetivo es mostrar un panorama general de los últimos dispositivos y sus aplicaciones, así como los futuros vectores de desarrollo en el área. Se realizó una búsqueda de alrededor de 170 artículos, la mayoría de ellos publicados entre los años 2015 y 2021, de los cuales se eligieron 53 al ser los de mayor actualidad e impacto en los campos de investigación referidos a la administración de fármacos, la cirugía mínimamente invasiva, y las intromisiones craneales y vasculares. Se concluye que, si bien los micro dispositivos están en una etapa avanzada de investigación, aún tienen muchos desafíos por solucionar, lo cual no ha permitido completar en muchos casos las pruebas clínicas. Uno de los grandes desafíos futuros es incrementar la precisión en locomoción y conseguir que los dispositivos puedan realizar tareas más complejas con ayuda de dispositivos electrónicos de menor escala

Micro/nanoscale magnetic robots for biomedical applications

Magnetic small-scale robots are devices of great potential for the biomedical field because of the several benefits of this method of actuation. Recent work on the development of these devices has seen tremendous innovation and refinement toward ​improved performance for potential clinical applications. This review briefly details recent advancements in small-scale robots used for biomedical applications, covering their design, fabrication, applications, and demonstration of ability, and identifies the gap in studies and the difficulties that have persisted in the optimization of the use of these devices. In addition, alternative biomedical applications are also suggested for some of the technologies that show potential for other functions. This study concludes that although the field of small-scale robot research is highly innovative ​there is need for more concerted efforts to improve functionality and reliability of these devices particularly in clinical applications. Finally, further suggestions are made toward ​the achievement of commercialization for these devices

Optimization and fabrication of programmable domains for soft magnetic robots: A review

Driven by the aim of realizing functional robotic systems at the milli- and submillimetre scale for biomedical applications, the area of magnetically driven soft devices has received significant recent attention. This has resulted in a new generation of magnetically controlled soft robots with patterns of embedded, programmable domains throughout their structures. This type of programmable magnetic profiling equips magnetic soft robots with shape programmable memory and can be achieved through the distribution of discrete domains (voxels) with variable magnetic densities and magnetization directions. This approach has produced highly compliant, and often bio-inspired structures that are well suited to biomedical applications at small scales, including microfluidic transport and shape-forming surgical catheters. However, to unlock the full potential of magnetic soft robots with improved designs and control, significant challenges remain in their compositional optimization and fabrication. This review considers recent advances and challenges in the interlinked optimization and fabrication aspects of programmable domains within magnetic soft robots. Through a combination of improvements in the computational capacity of novel optimization methods with advances in the resolution, material selection and automation of existing and novel fabrication methods, significant further developments in programmable magnetic soft robots may be realized