Robot Invented To Crawl Through Veins 99
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."
Robotic aneurysm (Score:2, Insightful)
WTF (Score:1, Insightful)
So this has all the functionality of a 1mm steel ball bearing.
What will they think of next?
How is that helpful? (Score:4, Insightful)
Wonder what new procedures will be possible (Score:3, 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...
Malfunctions? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:And the first test subject will be... (Score:2, 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.
Sweet (Score:2, Insightful)