Plant-based particles dictate the shape change of tiny soft robots
A group of researchers led by Professor Hamed Shahsavan from the Department of Chemical Engineering has developed smart advanced materials that will form the foundation for a future generation of soft medical microrobots.
The tiny soft robots are a maximum of one centimeter long and are bio-compatible and non-toxic. The robots are made of composites of soft smart and self-healing hydrogels with rod-like plant-based cellulose nanoparticles.
These tiny robots have the potential to conduct medical procedures, such as biopsy, and cell and tissue transport, in a minimally invasive fashion. The next step in this research is to scale the robot down to submillimeter scales.
Professor Hamed Shahsavan
Shahsavan's research team, Negin Bouzari (MASc), Rasool Nasseri (PDF), Junting Huang (BSc), and Sarah Jankhani (MEng), worked in collaboration with Professor Tizazu Mekonnen from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Professor Shirley Tang, Associate Dean of Science (Research), and Professor Amirreza Aghakhani from the University of Stuttgart in Germany. The outcome of their research has been published in Nature Communications.