Switzerland Microrobots Revolutionize Tender

Researchers have for the first time manufactured micromachines by interlocking multiple materials with certain advantages. Their goal is to create microrobots that can maneuver through blood vessels like ferries. Future applications include distributing active substances or performing surgical procedures.An interdisciplinary team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ETH has developed a new technique for manufacturing micrometer-long machines. According to an ETH press release they have succeeded in interlocking metal and plastic for the first time. Both materials offer certain advantages in building micromachines. As a rule ETH reports that micromachines are powered from outside the body using magnetic fields. This means they must have magnetic metal parts installed. Polymers have the advantage that they can be used to construct soft flexible components as well as parts that dissolve inside the body. If medication is embedded in this kind of soluble polymer it is possible to selectively supply active substances to certain points in the body.The new manufacturing technique is based on high-precision 3D printing with which ETH Professor Salvador Pan has been experimenting for many years. As a proof of principle ETH scientists have created various miniscule vehicles with plastic chassis and magnetic metal wheels. Their work has been published in the Nature Communications journal.The scientists are now planning to experiment with other materials to create more complex shapes. Future applications of micromachines include treating aneurysms or performing other surgical procedures. Another research goal is to make stents tubeshaped vessel supports that unfold themselves and can be positioned at a specific place in the body using magnetic fields.