Engineers and scientists have paved the way for a robot that can reach some of the smallest bronchial tubes in the lungs – to take tissue samples or deliver cancer therapy.
Though still a prototype, the robot can reach the inner recesses of the human body with minimal invasion, a task that has long frustrated doctors
Known as a magnetic tentacle robot, it measures just 2 millimetres in diameter, about twice the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen.
Magnets on the outside of the patient will be used to guide the magnetic tentacle robot into place.
The device has been developed by a team of engineers, scientists and clinicians based at the STORM Lab at Leeds, which is pioneering the use of robotic systems to assist in endoscopy and catheter procedures, where a fine tube is inserted into body.
Read more at the University news page
The snakelike robot was also featured in the washington post.