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The ‘magnetic tentacle robot’: a new age of lung investigation and cancer therapy delivery?

Written by Harriet Stanwix

magnetic tentacle robot

Engineers from the Science and Technologies of Robotics in Medicine lab (STORM, UK) have developed proof-of-concept for a robot that can access even the most minuscule bronchial tubes in the lung. Researchers hope that this will one day enable clinicians to more easily take tissue samples or deliver cancer therapy. The ‘magnetic tentacle robot’ measures just 2 millimeters in diameter and is guided by magnets on the outside of the individual. The proof-of-concept was based upon laboratory tests utilizing a 3-D replica of a bronchial tree modeled on anatomical data. Examinations of the lungs and airways are currently carried out...

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