TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jeong, Moonkwang
AU  - Tan, Xiangzhou
AU  - Fischer, Felix
AU  - Qiu, Tian
TI  - A Convoy of Magnetic Millirobots Transports Endoscopic Instruments for Minimally-Invasive Surgery.
JO  - Advanced science
VL  - 11
IS  - 35
SN  - 2198-3844
CY  - Weinheim
PB  - Wiley-VCH
M1  - DKFZ-2024-01401
SP  - e2308382
PY  - 2024
N1  - #LA:E300# / 2024 Sep;11(35):e2308382
AB  - Small-scale robots offer significant potential in minimally invasive medical procedures. Due to the nature of soft biological tissues, however, robots are exposed to complex environments with various challenges in locomotion, which is essential to overcome for useful medical tasks. A single mini-robot often provides insufficient force on slippery biological surfaces to carry medical instruments, such as a fluid catheter or an electrical wire. Here, for the first time, a team of millirobots (TrainBot) is reported to generate around two times higher actuating force than a TrainBot unit by forming a convoy to collaboratively carry long and heavy cargos. The feet of each unit are optimized to increase the propulsive force around three times so that it can effectively crawl on slippery biological surfaces. A human-scale permanent magnetic set-up is developed to wirelessly actuate and control the TrainBot to transport heavy and lengthy loads through narrow biological lumens, such as the intestine and the bile duct. The first electrocauterization performed by the TrainBot is demonstrated to relieve a biliary obstruction and open a tunnel for fluid drainage and drug delivery. The developed technology sheds light on the collaborative strategy of small-scale robots for future minimally invasive surgical procedures.
KW  - crawling motion (Other)
KW  - drug delivery (Other)
KW  - electrocauterization (Other)
KW  - endoscopic surgery (Other)
KW  - magnetic actuation (Other)
KW  - small‐scale robots (Other)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:38946679
DO  - DOI:10.1002/advs.202308382
UR  - https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/291427
ER  -