Vein crawling mini robot developed

Tags: Cancer Israel Robot robotic

22 Jul 2009

The ViRob prototype

The Israeli Institute of Technology has created a miniature crawling robot small enough to crawl through human veins.

The robot has been developed to perform precise medical procedures in the human body to potentially diagnose and treat artery blockage and cancer.

Researchers at the Technicon institute have so far developed a basic prototype of the ViRob, which is just 1mm wide and 12mm long but is able to move as fast as 9mm per second.

They are examining the possibility of using the robot as a treatment for lung cancer by using it to assist targeted drug delivery to lung tumours and for taking different samples from parts of the body.

Professor Moshe Shoham, leader of the Technicon researchers and head of the Kahn Medical Robotics Laboratory at the institute, said: “This robot is a breakthrough in the biomedical industry, as it allows doctors to access inaccessible areas in the body with minimal invasion.

“The technology enables targeted treatment without scattering materials to unnecessary areas in the body.”

The ViRob has tiny arms that allow it to stabilise against blood pressure and allow it to crawl through the inner walls of blood vessels, the digestive tract and the respiratory to the veins and then arteries.

It is powered by an external magnetic field, which allows it to be controlled for long periods of time during procedures.

The researchers are now planning to install additional equipment on the robot such as electrodes and miniature drug capsules to treat a number of diseases.

Link

Israel Institute of Technology

Sarah Bruce

Reader's Comments

Fantastic Journey

22 Jul 09 15:07

Way back in 1966 there was a documentary about the miniaturisation of a submarine full of doctors who were injected into a person veins to save their life. It’s good to see the ongoing development of this application.

Fansastic voyage

23 Jul 09 09:07

It wasn't a documentary - it was a Hollywood movie and then TV series, with Donald Pleasance and Raquel Welch among the miniaturised crew of the minitaurised mini-sub Proteus, who have to carry out surgey inside a patient before the process goes into reverse and they get detected and attacked by the patient's immune system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fantasticvoyageposter.jpg

Fantisy or reality

mr.acute.cio@live.co.uk

23 Jul 09 10:07

are you sure it wasn't a documentary followed by an Open University education course, i think yoiuy will find it really did happen.