Researchers at Stanford University have developed a swimming microrobot designed to navigate the human bloodstream, an innovation presented at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) The research was announced by Assistant Professor Ada Poon, the principal investigator at Stanford's Integrated Biomedical Systems group
The project's core breakthrough is a new method for wirelessly powering what the research paper describes as "fully autonomous implantable systems with locomotion" The primary challenge the team overcame was discovering how to efficiently and wirelessly supply power to a tiny, swimming chip designed to function within the human body or any fluid
The group's work overturned long-held assumptions about how electromagnetic power travels through human tissue It was previously believed that the high-frequency waves required for such small devices would not propagate effectively, but the Stanford team demonstrated a viable method, paving the way for a new class of medical devices This advance could enable future tools for "diagnostic and therapeutic innovation" operating directly inside veins, arteries, or organs
ISN MEDIA
