Actuation and Biomedical Development of Micro/Nano Robotics

A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825). This special issue belongs to the section "Actuators for Medical Instruments".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 683

Special Issue Editor

Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA
Interests: medical robotics; multi-scale robotics; breast cancer diagnositics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to provide comprehensive review/research articles on the state of the art of small-scale robotics at the micro/nanometer level and to highlight the various approaches towards actuators for biomedical applications. Micro/nanorobots have tremendous potential to be utilized in biomedical applications, with advantages in their high precision and swarm operations. However, there are still many challenges remaining for biomedical applications with living organisms, such as innovative designs for the integration of functionalities, biocompatible actuation systems, and imaging tracking technology. This issue presents the main challenges of micro/nanorobots for biomedical developments, including, but not limited to, novel hardware design, actuation principles, dynaimics, controls, sensors, new functionalities, and artificial intelligence.

Dr. Kihan Park
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • microbots
  • nanorobots
  • untethered robot
  • wireless actuation
  • biomedical robotics
  • biocompatible
  • healthcare
  • diagnosis
  • treatment

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 55673 KiB  
Article
Design, Fabrication, and Experimental Validation of Optical Microbots
by Menaka Konara, Mishal Pokharel, Md Mainuddin Sagar, Yeongjin Kim and Kihan Park
Actuators 2025, 14(5), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/act14050229 - 5 May 2025
Viewed by 496
Abstract
Light-actuated microbots have been studied as a viable tool for interacting with micro/nano environments. Considering their applicability to a wide range of biomedical applications, novel designs, fabrication techniques, and control methodologies are being developed. Especially, micro/nanoscale three-dimensional fabrication techniques have opened many possibilities [...] Read more.
Light-actuated microbots have been studied as a viable tool for interacting with micro/nano environments. Considering their applicability to a wide range of biomedical applications, novel designs, fabrication techniques, and control methodologies are being developed. Especially, micro/nanoscale three-dimensional fabrication techniques have opened many possibilities for developing microbots with complex geometries using resins as materials. Here, we developed microbots that can be actuated with tightly focused laser beams to be used in targeted drug delivery, cell poking, and cell characterization studies. These microbots were fabricated in batches using two-photon polymerization (TPP). Each microbot utilizes a deposited metal layer inside its body to manipulate convective microfluidic flows. Additionally, micro-sized end effectors allow them to make measurable physical contact with biological objects. Their expected performance was evaluated using numerical simulations with the use of multiphysics software. Furthermore, laser-induced loading and unloading of micro-sized cargo show their capability for in vitro applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Actuation and Biomedical Development of Micro/Nano Robotics)
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