We are all used to swallowing pills of all sorts to take medications and other health-related materials. But what we could deliver drugs to specific locations?
In the 1960s science fiction classic, “Fantastic Voyage”, a submarine and its crew were shrunk to a microscopic size in order to try to remove a blood clot from a patient’s brain. As is often the case, one generation’s science fiction is another’s science fact. In this case, researchers at Stanford have developed a tiny robot that can travel over solid surfaces and swim through liquids. Injected inside the body, it could propel itself to a specific location where it could then release a drug payload to that precise spot. It could also retrieve bio-materials from that place for further analysis. It is powered by magnetic fields, so it does not need a power source or recharging. Depending on the strength of the magnetic field, it can jump up to 10 times its own length. Fortunately, we do not need to find a shrinking ray to put a human crew onboard for it to complete its mission.