A Contactless and Biocompatible Approach for 3D Active Microrobotic Targeted Drug Delivery.

As robotic tools are becoming a fundamental part of present day surgical interventions, microrobotic surgery is steadily approaching clinically-relevant scenarios. In particular, minimally invasive microrobotic targeted drug deliveries are reaching the grasp of the current state-of-the-art technology. However, clinically-relevant issues, such as lack of biocompatibility and dexterity, complicate the clinical application of the results obtained in controlled environments.

Design, characterization and control of thermally-responsive and magnetically-actuated micro-grippers at the air-water interface.

The design and control of untethered microrobotic agents has drawn a lot of attention in recent years. This technology truly possesses the potential to revolutionize the field of minimally invasive surgery and microassembly. However, miniaturization and reliable actuation of micro-fabricated grippers are still challenging at sub-millimeter scale.

Autonomous planning and control of soft untethered grippers in unstructured environments.

The use of small, maneuverable, untethered and reconfigurable robots could provide numerous advantages in various micromanipulation tasks. Examples include microassembly, pick-and-place of fragile micro-objects for lab-on-a-chip applications, assisted hatching for fertilization and minimally invasive surgery. This study assesses the potential of soft untethered magnetic grippers as alternatives or complements to conventional tethered or rigid micromanipulators.

Stimuli-Responsive Soft Untethered Grippers for Drug Delivery and Robotic Surgery.

Untethered microtools that can be precisely navigated into deep locations are important for clinical procedures pertinent to minimally invasive surgery and targeted drug delivery. In this mini-review, untethered soft grippers are discussed, with an emphasis on a class of autonomous stimuli-responsive gripping soft tools that can be used to excise tissues and release drugs in a controlled manner. The grippers are composed of polymers and hydrogels and are thus compliant to soft tissues.

Control of Untethered Soft Grippers for Pick-and-Place Tasks.

In order to handle complex tasks in hard-to-reach environments, small-scale robots have to possess suitable dexterous and untethered control capabilities. The fabrication and manipulation of soft, small-scale grippers complying to these requirements is now made possible by advances in material science and robotics. In this paper, we use soft, small-scale grippers to demonstrate pick-and-place tasks.