The scientists have developed a microscopic robot that can swim like a sperm inside a human body and help in sensing many diseases by exploring the body’s complex environment in a simpler way.
‘Bio-Bots’, a self-propelled microscopic biological machine, is designed by the researchers of the University of Illinois.
The machine is made up of flexible polymer. It has a long-tail section that helps the machine in navigating inside the aquatic world of micro-organisms. The researchers have developed it in such a way that it has minimum amount of moving parts.
“Micro-organisms have a whole world that we only glimpse through the microscope. This is the first time that an engineered system has reached this underworld,” said Taher Saif, a Professor of mechanical science and engineering from the University of Illinois.
The new development of science can prove to be beneficial for the medicine. Researchers believe that these cell-powered robots can help in sensing cancer cells, toxins and tumors inside the human body. Scientists say, besides early diagnosing the disease, it will also not bring any damage to the internal health of the body, which is common in traditional surgeries.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.