Representing a giant leap forward in nanobot design, researchers at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering, led by Shaochen Chen and Joseph Wang of the Nano-Engineering Department, have created 3D-printed “microfish” capable of accomplishing more sophisticated tasks than any other similar technology. These microscopic robots feature a fish-shaped body measuring just 120 microns long by 30 microns wide. For propulsion, they employ a chemical reaction between hydrogen peroxide and platinum nano-particles in the tail, with navigation controlled by magnetic fields acting on iron oxide particles in the head of the fish.

The proof-of-concept demonstration of the “microfish” showed how the nanobots could carry particles of polydiacetylene (PDA) while swimming through solution, and then successfully initiate reactions with toxins similar to bee venom. The PDA particles would begin to glow upon connecting with these pore-forming toxins, demonstrating that the fish could theoretically detect and clean up toxins in a bloodstream, in addition to accurately delivering drugs to targeted sites in the body.

Click here to learn more about this research from the Irwin Joan Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California – San Diego.