Zhang Yujing, Wu Xiaobo, Vadlamani Ram Anand, Lim Youngmin, Kim Jongwoon, David Kailee, Gilbert Earl, Li You, Wang Ruixuan, Jiang Shan, Wang Anbo, Sontheimer Harald, English Daniel, Emori Satoru, Davalos Rafael V, Poelzing Steven, Jia Xiaoting
The Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.
Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA.
bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 30:2023.01.27.525973. doi: 10.1101/2023.01.27.525973.
Small-scale robots capable of remote active steering and navigation offer great potential for biomedical applications. However, the current design and manufacturing procedure impede their miniaturization and integration of various diagnostic and therapeutic functionalities. Here, we present a robotic fiber platform for integrating navigation, sensing, and therapeutic functions at a submillimeter scale. These fiber robots consist of ferromagnetic, electrical, optical, and microfluidic components, fabricated with a thermal drawing process. Under magnetic actuation, they can navigate through complex and constrained environments, such as artificial vessels and brain phantoms. Moreover, we utilize Langendorff mouse hearts model, glioblastoma microplatforms, and in vivo mouse models to demonstrate the capabilities of sensing electrophysiology signals and performing localized treatment. Additionally, we demonstrate that the fiber robots can serve as endoscopes with embedded waveguides. These fiber robots provide a versatile platform for targeted multimodal detection and treatment at hard-to-reach locations in a minimally invasive and remotely controllable manner.
能够进行远程主动转向和导航的小型机器人在生物医学应用中具有巨大潜力。然而，当前的设计和制造工艺阻碍了它们的小型化以及各种诊断和治疗功能的集成。在此，我们展示了一种用于在亚毫米尺度上集成导航、传感和治疗功能的机器人纤维平台。这些纤维机器人由铁磁、电气、光学和微流体组件组成，通过热拉伸工艺制造。在磁驱动下，它们能够在复杂且受限的环境中导航，如人造血管和脑模型。此外，我们利用兰根多夫小鼠心脏模型、胶质母细胞瘤微平台和体内小鼠模型来展示传感电生理信号和进行局部治疗的能力。此外，我们证明了纤维机器人可以作为嵌入波导的内窥镜。这些纤维机器人提供了一个通用平台，以微创和远程可控的方式在难以到达的位置进行靶向多模态检测和治疗。
