Phillips Innovative Technologies researchers have developed robots to fight cancer without tissue damage or side effects
Scientists have always tried to harness the capabilities of robots in medical procedures. So today we have little robots that can inject a drug into an eye or robots that can play their part in operations. And now there may even be a new system for fighting cancer.
Researchers at Phillips Innovative Technologies have created a magnetized swarm of microscopic robots in Hamburg, Germany. Each robot in this swarm can be set to perform individual medical tasks and procedures. This is all thanks to magnetic fields. The scientists presented the results of their research on February 15 within the Journal Science Robotics. This is a very important breakthrough because previously a swarm of robots could perform a single group task, and now instead each robot will have its own autonomy.
Robots for the fight against cancer
Jürgen Rahmer, one of the authors of the research carried out by Phillips Innovative Technologies, said, "This is a huge step forward in medical research. Our method can enable complex manipulations within the human body. That were not possible before." Scientists now plan to use the robotic swarm to kill cancer cells inside the human body. In this way, the treatment, compared to current treatments, could spare healthy tissue and avoid many of the harmful health side effects. This technology, researchers say, could also be used to create medical prosthetics that change over time as a person heals.