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Robot Invented To Crawl Through Veins

Posted by timothy on from the oh-no-not-creepy dept.

Slatterz writes "Scientists from Israel's Technion University have unveiled a tiny robot, made using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, purportedly able to crawl through a person's veins in order to diagnose and potentially treat artery blockage and cancer. The little robot — with a diameter of just one millimeter — has neither engine nor onboard controls, instead being propelled forward by a magnetic field wielded on it from outside the patient's body."

7 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Robotic aneurysm by 4D6963 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I for one welcome our miniature robotic clots!

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    You just got troll'd!
  2. WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    So this has all the functionality of a 1mm steel ball bearing.
    What will they think of next?

  3. How is that helpful? by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How does a robot moving though one's vein "diagnose and potentially treat artery blockage"? Wouldn't it need to be traveling though the arteries to do that?

  4. Wonder what new procedures will be possible by ShooterNeo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Interventional cardiologists and other physician specialties already use a veritable swiss army knife of tools on catheter tips. You already can feed all sorts of balloons and stents and scrapers and other tools into the body by pushing them into place with a catheter. This "robot" is moved around with a magnetic field rather than a plastic filament.

    I wonder what new techniques and procedures this will make possible...and if the incremental improvement in outcomes will actually extend lifespans any...

  5. Malfunctions? by srothroc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hope it doesn't malfunction and get stuck or something. All you need in that situation is a nice mechanical clot...

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    http://www.tenjou.net/
  6. Re:And the first test subject will be... by PHPfanboy · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Fuck you hater. Israelis did not put Palestinians in concentration camps.
    The Arab countries put them in UN refugee camps and deny them freedom of movement, freedom of occupation and citizenship.
    You can compare that with how Israel treated refugee Jews from Arab countries.
    I'm not saying Israelis are saints, but at least get your basic facts right.

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    29 mpg. YMMV.
  7. Sweet by KWarp · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Israel invents some pretty incredible stuff.