Australian researchers are putting the final design touches to micro-motors small enough to swim in the human bloodstream.
A paper published this week in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering describes how researchers are harnessing piezoelectricity to produce microbot motors just a quarter of a millimeter wide.
Piezoelectricity is the energy force commonly used to trigger-start a gas stove and is found in quartz watches.
Remote controlled robots small enough to swim up arteries could save lives by reaching parts that catheters have been unable to access – such as a stroke-damaged cranial artery.
Lead researcher Professor James Friend from Monash University said his team began their research more than two years ago in the belief that piezoelectricity was the most suitable energy force for micro-motors.
This is because the engines can be scaled down while remaining forceful enough, even at the small sizes needed, for motors to swim against the blood’s current.
"Piezoelectric designs….have favourable scaling characteristics and, in general, are simple designs, which have provided an excellent platform for the development of micro-motors," Professor Friend said.
The team has produced prototypes of the motors and is now working on ways to improve the assembly method and the mechanical device which moves and controls the micro-motors.
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