[h=1]Robo Sperm: The future of in vitro fertilization[/h] June 11, 2014 | Filed under: Family Health | Posted by: Charles Brown+
Scientists from the Universities of Twente in the Netherlands and the German University in Cairo have designed microscopic robots that resemble sperm cells in both shape and movement. The robots have been labeled MagnetoSperm because they can be guided with magnetic fields in order to have them perform small scale, complex tasks such as delivering medicine, cleaning clogged arteries or in vitro fertilization. This development was detailed in a study published in the journal Applied Physics Letters. Lead researcher and mechanical engineer Sarthak Misra was inspired by nature’s efficient tools designed for locomotion at micro scales.
The sperm-like robots were manufactured with a method called spin coating. This technique consists of depositing a thin yet resistant polymer film onto a silicon wafer. Then an electron beam was used to apply a cobalt-nickel layer onto the heads of the bots, but not their tails. When exposed to an oscillating magnetic less strong than a refrigerator magnet the heads would rotate and the tails would move back and forth, propelling the robots forward. Targeting a reference point with the magnetic field allowed the scientists to steer the bots.
The 332 robotic sperm are already one micron long; or, approximately ten times the width of a human hair. However, Misra and colleagues are planning to make the robots even smaller and endow them with magnetic nanofiber tails.
Robo Sperm: The future of in vitro fertilization | Health-News.com
Scientists from the Universities of Twente in the Netherlands and the German University in Cairo have designed microscopic robots that resemble sperm cells in both shape and movement. The robots have been labeled MagnetoSperm because they can be guided with magnetic fields in order to have them perform small scale, complex tasks such as delivering medicine, cleaning clogged arteries or in vitro fertilization. This development was detailed in a study published in the journal Applied Physics Letters. Lead researcher and mechanical engineer Sarthak Misra was inspired by nature’s efficient tools designed for locomotion at micro scales.
The sperm-like robots were manufactured with a method called spin coating. This technique consists of depositing a thin yet resistant polymer film onto a silicon wafer. Then an electron beam was used to apply a cobalt-nickel layer onto the heads of the bots, but not their tails. When exposed to an oscillating magnetic less strong than a refrigerator magnet the heads would rotate and the tails would move back and forth, propelling the robots forward. Targeting a reference point with the magnetic field allowed the scientists to steer the bots.
The 332 robotic sperm are already one micron long; or, approximately ten times the width of a human hair. However, Misra and colleagues are planning to make the robots even smaller and endow them with magnetic nanofiber tails.
Robo Sperm: The future of in vitro fertilization | Health-News.com
