(June 24, 2015) Swarms of microscopic, magnetic, robotic beads could be
scrubbing in next to the world’s top vascular surgeons—all taking aim at
blocked arteries. These microrobots, which look and move like corkscrew-shaped
bacteria, are being developed by mechanical engineers at Drexel University as a
part of a surgical toolkit being assembled by the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of
Science and Technology (DGIST) in South Korea.
MinJun Kim, PhD, a professor in the College of Engineering
and director of the Biological Actuation, Sensing & Transport Laboratory
(BASTLab) at Drexel, is adding his team’s extensive work in bio-inspired
microrobotics to an $18-million international research initiative from the
Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technologies (KEIT) set on creating a
minimally invasive, microrobot-assisted procedure for dealing with blocked
arteries within five years.
DGIST, a government-funded research entity in Daegu, South
Korea, is the leader of the 11-institution partnership, which includes some of
the top engineers and roboticists in the world. Drexel’s team, the lone
representatives from the United States, is already well on its way to tailoring
robotic “microswimmer” technology for clearing arteries.