Minimally invasive surgery is increasingly used to
target small lesions and a growing demand exists for miniaturized
medical tools. These include microcatheters, articulated
micro-forceps or tweezers to sense and actuate during precision
surgery. The accurate integration and functionalization of chemical
and physical sensors still remain a major challenge. In a new study
on Science Robotics, Antoine Barbot and colleagues at the Institute
of Medical Robotics in China and the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic
Surgery in London developed a novel microrobotic platform to
functionalize fibers ranging from 140 to 830 micrometers (µm). They
then aligned the 2 mm x 3 mm and 200 µm-thick microbots to floating
electronic circuits on a fiber using a wet transfer
process.
