Microrobots

With microrobots, scientists are trying to aim to safely put microrobots into the body and improve health by diagnosing or monitoring a disease, measuring glucose levels in a person with diabetes, sending a swarm to deliver targeted therapies to diseases, or perform minor surgery in the eye or even in the brain. Microbots could also be swallowed into the stomach to carry out specific tasks like removing dangerous swallowed objects. They will be able to control the robot in the body by manipulating external magnetic fields.

Swarm robotics is the coordination of multiple robots as a system instead of individualized robots with a specific task. It is supposed that an emerging behavior comes from interactions between the robots and the environment. There are many applications for the use of swarm robotics. Scientists are planning on using swarms to put many microrobots into small places like the human body to deliver therapy or diagnose a disease. Another application for swarms robots are for military, vehicle, and drone/entertainment uses.

A team of engineers, dentists, and biologists from the University of Pennsylvania developed two microrobotic systems designed to remove kill bacteria growing on the teeth and also remove biofilms on the teeth. Removing biofilm on teeth manually is very difficult and labor intensive to the dentist and the patient, especially if they (the biofilm) is stuck in the isthmus of the tooth (a narrow area between the root canal), where they commonly grow. This is why using a swarm of microrobots could be useful in helping the dentist by disposing the biofilm easily and efficiently.