Nature’s most effortless climbers inspire a new frontier in robotics.
Magnetic vine robots borrow the elegance of plants that grow and navigate by elongating their stems, merging this simplicity with advanced magnetic actuation to solve complex problems in minimally invasive medicine.
Imagine a soft, flexible robot weaving through the intricate pathways of the brain or lungs with precision and care. These robots can access the most delicate environments, delivering treatments, clearing blockages, and placing medical devices with a level of control and safety that feels almost organic.
The combination of nature-inspired design and cutting-edge engineering represents a paradigm shift.
A) Traditional soft catheters can buckle and put pressure on vessels, while vine robots apply force only at the tip and move without shearing. B) Vines extend by everting their inner material, which moves forward under pressure and becomes stationary as the vine grows. C) Magnetic fluid-driven vines can be steered using external magnets to control their movement. D) These vines can be miniaturized for precise navigation inside the body.
Relevant Publications
[1]
J. Davy et al., "Magnetic Fluid-Driven Vine Robots for Minimally Invasive Tissue Biopsy Sampling," Advanced Intelligent Systems, vol. n/a, no. n/a, p. 2400827, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1002/aisy.202400827.
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N. G. Kim et al., "External Steering of Vine Robots via Magnetic Actuation," Soft Robotics, Sep. 2024, doi: 10.1089/soro.2023.0182.
[1]
J. Davy et al., "Vine Robots with Magnetic Skin for Surgical Navigations," IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Aug. 2024, doi: 10.1109/LRA.2024.3412637.