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Tiny motors on voyage of discovery

11 February 2009

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Microbot video; showing in vivo swimming microbot, driven by piezoelectric ultrasonic resonant motor.
Micromotor catheter application video; showing how vascular complexities are overcome with the use of the micromotor, compared to traditional neuro-catheter surgery.

A range of complex surgical operations necessary to treat stroke victims, confront hardened arteries or address blockages in the bloodstream are about to be made safer.

Monash researchers from the Micro/Nanophysics Research laboratory in the Faculty of Engineering have used piezoelectricity - the energy force most commonly used to start
a gas stove - to produce micro motors just 250 micrometres or a quarter of a millimetre wide.

The researchers believe these motors will be forceful enough to be injected into the blood stream and swim against the blood's current, reaching spots difficult to operate on.

Research team leader Professor James Friend said methods of minimally invasive surgery such as keyhole surgery were preferred by surgeons and patients because of the damage avoided when contrasted with "cut and sew" operations.

"However surgeons are often limited by the width of a catheter tube, for example, which in serious cases can fatally puncture narrow arteries," Professor Friend said.

"Remote controlled miniature robots small enough to swim up arteries could save lives by reaching parts of the body, like a stroke-damaged cranial artery, that catheters have previously been unable to reach.

"With the right sensor equipment attached to the microrobot motor, the surgeon's view and dexterity could also be enhanced."

The team has produced prototypes of the motors – dubbed the "Proteus" after the miniature submarine that traveled through the human body in the movie Fantastic Voyage - and is now working on ways to improve the assembly method and the mechanical device that moves and controls the micro motor.