‘Caterpillar robot’ capable of delivering drugs inside human body

Scientists have come up with a new creepy caterpillar-looking robot, which will be used to walk through the body and deliver drugs easily inside to keep patients healthy.

City University of Hong Kong scientists have created the new robot, which physically looks similar to a cross between a Velcro strip and a caterpillar with numerous hair-like legs that help the bot to better navigate the various textures of inside the body.

“The rugged surface and changing texture of different tissues inside the human body make transportation challenging. Our multi-legged robot shows an impressive performance in various terrains and hence open wide applications for drug delivery inside the body,” Co-creator Wang Zuankai explained.

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The tiny silicon robot's hundreds of legs, which are only 1mm long, are embed with magnetic particles in order to be guided to a particular site with the help of an electromagnet, where it will release the medicine. They can even move along slippery surfaces inside the body that are lines in fluids such as blood or mucus, reported The Telegraph.

The team demonstrated that when the bot faces an obstacle ten times higher than its leg length, it can lift up one end of its body to form an angle of up to 90° and cross the obstacle easily. Apart from that, the tiny robot can carry a load of 100 times heavier than itself, along with increasing its speed by increasing the applied electromagnetic frequency.

The team lead Shen Yajing said, “The amazingly strong carrying capability, efficient locomotion and good obstacle-crossing ability make this milli-robot extremely suitable for applications in a harsh environment, for example delivering a drug to a designated spot through the digestive system, or carrying out medical inspection.”

As the study published in the journal Nature Communications describes, for the future, the scientists aim to create a biodegradable robot within the next two to three years so that it will decompose naturally after its medicine delivery mission, as per Daily Mail.