How tiny wireless robots can be used for non-invasive, precise, and safe medical diagnosis and treatment
Robot technology is already abundant in the medical domain, ranging from assistance in surgery to complex prosthetics. However, using tiny robots inside the body is still a fairly novel thing to do. Inspired by soft-bodied animals in nature, revolutionary, wireless, miniature mobile robots are proposed to navigate and function actively, but safely inside the human body. They can have programmable shape deformations and offer functional capabilities that have never been possible before. Metin Sitti, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, has pioneered many research areas, such as gecko-inspired microfiber adhesives, bio-inspired miniature robots, and physical intelligence. Recently, he is working on wireless miniature medical robots that can be used for local on-demand drug delivery, fluid pumping, biopsy, and vessel clogging. At Falling Walls, Metin will give insights into his research, explain how these tiny robots function, and present them live.