For the discovery of possible applications in the fields of nanomedicine, such as circulating tiny robots in the blood
Researchers from the Technion and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have developed a model of a tiny robot that is able to propel itself in a viscous liquid medium and utilizes the high friction to move efficiently. This was reported by the scientific journal New Journal of Physics.
The researchers explain that the discovery has possible applications in the fields of nanomedicine - for example, the "flooding" of microorganisms and micro-robots in the blood and other liquid media inside the body.
In conventional swimming techniques, the friction created due to the viscosity of the liquid causes low efficiency. In the new model, the swimmer's movement resembles the movement of a caterpillar-tank pair - which moves the tank without the vertebrae being dragged on the ground. This movement almost does not move the liquid along the entire length of the swimmer, but only at its ends, so the loss of energy is minimal. "The robot moves at the speed of the skin", say the researchers with a smile.
"A significant reduction in energy loss is an important condition for the future success of autonomous micro-robots and nano-robots that will swim around the body," explains Dr. Alex Lishansky from the Technion's Faculty of Chemical Engineering. "Such a robot could, for example, move inside the arteries, digestive system, spinal cord fluid, etc., and transmit images out - or inject drugs inside."
The research was carried out by Technion researchers Dr. Alex Lishansky, Professor Yosef Ebron and Dr. Oded Kenneth from the Faculty of Physics and Dr. Omri Gat from the Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University.
