the drug-creating robot

January 17, 2020

Presented at the show Innorobo, taking place from July 1 to 3 in Lyon, RodBot the robot of the swiss brand MagnebotiX (specialized in robotics for health) unfortunately did not shine … This was due to its microscopic size, since it is actually a nanorobot!

Researcher and project manager

This tiny robot (it measures only 50x60x300 micrometers) is indeed able to extract, a very fragile crystal located in proteins, which can be used for drug manufacturing and at the medical research. It works in two different parts and uses the same technology, namely a magnetic field ! RodBot is in fact only one of these two components, and more precisely the one responsible for “Scrape” the sample, in order to take off the famous crystal, and then bring it back up without damaging it. To avoid it, magnets have been arranged in polymer so that they only appear at the ends. When RodBot comes to separate the crystal from the sample (by rotating it on itself) the latter does not undergo no impact, and rises quietly above, thanks to the magnetism generated by magnets.

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL9VtAN8jiI (/ embed) 

The second part of this device turns out to be, the magnetic field generator MFG-100, which allows you to create the rotation necessary for RodBot, to take its sample. "Our nanorobot, RodBot, presents the rod shape. It has a magnetic part and when we apply a rotating magnetic field, it will follow him turning around and on yourself. We can drive like that very precisely like a car and make it change direction. It is even possible to use a ehealth game console for this, "explains the CEO of magnebotiX. David F. Silver.

And after ?

This new system could offer spectacular advance to medicine according to Sargent, especially at the level drug, because it allows to carry out with ease, an action hitherto risky. “Our technology is changing the way a drug reacts with a protein. For this, chemists need to harvest delicate protein crystals ”, he explains. For the moment, the device is used by pharmaceutical laboratories and biologists studying the mechanisms of force on cells.

This technology still costs 60,000 euros, but the company does not only market its robot, since the magnetic field generator and the user interface to control RodBot are also provided. MagnebotiX is currently working on the design of a new, more expensive model, but above all fully autonomous.

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