A centimetre-sized robot with a soft body and metallic scales inspired by pangolins can stop bleeding or destroy cells from inside the body using heat
By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
20 June 2023
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A small robot that can shape-shift and produce heat could incinerate cancer cells or stop bleeding from inside the body. It could also be used to ferry drugs directly to tumours or hard-to-reach places like arteries.
Tiny robots with soft bodies have shown promise for delivering drugs without causing damage – but adding hard elements could make them more useful.
Ren Hao Soon at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, and his colleagues designed the centimetre-sized robot to have overlapping aluminium plates inspired by pangolins, the only mammal with scales. They layered rectangular “scales” over softer, magnetic material, which let the robot change its shape.
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To make it move, curl up, stretch out or get warm, the researchers directed magnetic fields at the robot’s metal parts. Changing the frequency of these fields could also make the scales heat up, allowing the robot to blast its surroundings with heat. They found that the robot’s body could warm up to more than 70°C.
The researchers also used the robot’s heat to deliver cargo within a model of a stomach. They stuck a piece of rubbery material to the robot to imitate capsules of medicine. The adhesive they used dissolved when the robot warmed up, depositing the cargo. This could allow for targeted drug delivery within the body.
