In 1966, the movie “Fantastic Voyage” recounted the tale of doctors who are miniaturized along with a submarine and injected into the body of a Soviet defector, sailing up his bloodstream to destroy a brain clot that imperils the VIP’s life. More than 40 years later, scientists have created a motorized robot small enough to be injected into the human bloodstream. One day, the remote-controlled robot could carry sensor equipment for observation work, relaying images back to surgeons. Or it could become a tiny surgeon, cutting away blood clots, reaming out clogged arteries or repairing damaged tissue, its inventors hope.
The team is working on a motor based on piezo-electricity, the energy used in quartz watches, up market cigarette lighters and gas stove lighters. Like a swimming bacterium guided by remote control, the robot would make headway against the bloodstream, at least in blood vessels where the flow is not too great, the inventors hope. The device could transmit images, deliver microscopic payloads and, eventually, carry out surgery. It would then be retrieved by syringe at the point of entry
The team is working on a motor based on piezo-electricity, the energy used in quartz watches, up market cigarette lighters and gas stove lighters. Like a swimming bacterium guided by remote control, the robot would make headway against the bloodstream, at least in blood vessels where the flow is not too great, the inventors hope. The device could transmit images, deliver microscopic payloads and, eventually, carry out surgery. It would then be retrieved by syringe at the point of entry
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