subject: A Walk-able Microtic Robot In Our Body [print this page] Sukho Park of Chonnam National University, Korea, and his colleagues have designed a micro-robot driven by the cell. Tim Park make the robot by growing heart muscle tissue from a rat on a small robotic skeletons made from polidimetilsiloksana (PDMS). PDMS is a biocompatible polymer which makes the robot suitable use in biomedical applications.
PDMS is an organic polymers most widely used silicon-based, and also known for its unusual rheological properties. Its applications ranging from contact lenses and medical devices to elastomers, it is present, too, in the shampoo (as Dimethicone make hair shiny and slippery), lubricating oil, caulking, and heat-resistant tiles.
PDMS is clear optics, and, in general, considered to be inert, non-toxic and not flammable. This is sometimes called Dimethicone and is one of several types of silicone oil (polymerized siloxane).
What is special in these robots, says Park, is that they do not require an external power supply. But the heart muscle cells, which relaxes and contracts to provide energy. Heart muscle cells themselves obtain energy from a glucose culture medium. Pulsing cells alone enables the robot to move the sixth legs.
This robot has three front legs are short (400 micrometers long) and three longer back legs (1200 micrometres long), all mounted on a rectangular body. At the heart cells to contract, the longer rear legs bend inward. This yields a difference of friction between the front legs and hind legs, which suppresses the robot moves forward. The researchers measured the average velocity of the robot is approximately 100 micrometers per second.
Park said that robotic crab-like robot that can be used in the body to clean the cavity or a clogged artery, by removing a solvent to clean the blockage agents through which they pass.
