Micro/Nanorobots for Medical Diagnosis and Disease Treatment

Abstract

Micro/nanorobots are functional devices in microns, at nanoscale, which enable efficient propulsion through chemical reactions or external physical field, including ultrasonic, optical, magnetic, and other external fields, as well as microorganisms. Compared with traditional robots, micro/nanorobots can perform various tasks on the micro/nanoscale, which has the advantages of high precision, strong flexibility, and wide adaptability. In addition, such robots can also perform tasks in a cluster manner. The design and development of micro/nanorobots and the integration of surface functionalization, remote drive system, and imaging tracking technology will become a key step for their medical applications in organisms. Thus, micro/nanorobots are expected to achieve more efficient and accurate local diagnosis and treatment, and they have broad application prospects in the biomedical field. This paper aims to introduce relevant driving methods of micro/nanorobots preparation in detail, summarizes the progress of research in medical applications, and discusses the challenges it faces in clinical applications and the future direction of development.