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The Tiny Robot that Can Crawl Through Your Veins

blogs.discovermagazine.com — The next big step in cancer treatment might be small enough to balance on a grain of salt.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 5, 2009

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  • NoozeHound, on 06/05/2009, -0/+23Bit big isn't it? Nano-bot fore-runner?

    Mandatory overlord comment.

    Yay! Teeny Meks.
  • amitforu78, on 06/05/2009, -0/+22Cool.....
    Great advancement in science and technology.
    .
  • ifruit, on 06/05/2009, -0/+21She just told you that to make you feel better.
  • Laughingman42, on 06/05/2009, -0/+19How do you shrink the people down to drive it?
  • Animan351, on 06/05/2009, -1/+19That's a fast lil fugger at 9 millimeters a second. I figured it would barely be able to move at all.
  • akchrs, on 06/05/2009, -2/+18Until they have completed successful testing, I'm sticking with leaches.
  • swordedge, on 06/05/2009, -0/+14Plaque bot coming soon to a vein in you so go a head and eat that fatty garbage!
  • ml4rocky, on 06/05/2009, -3/+16I had a hunch that such a device wasn't created in the USA. How times have changed here...
  • jjvors, on 06/05/2009, -0/+12This is the first really beneficial application of nano-robotics I have seen. This very much emulates recent science fiction by Eric Flint David Weber, and others.
  • FishHammer, on 06/05/2009, -1/+12NANOMACHINES
  • Jooze, on 06/05/2009, -1/+12Dude, that's ***** creepy. Cool, hope it saves lives, but creepy.
  • Nouman6, on 06/05/2009, -2/+13and zap it with drugs? How can something that tiny carry enough of a dose.
  • inactive, on 06/05/2009, -2/+12Can't wait to see this turned into a weapon.
  • Astark, on 06/05/2009, -2/+12I'm in your veins, killing your cancerz
  • rentdn, on 06/05/2009, -0/+9Remind me movie The Matrix
  • quirkopatra, on 06/05/2009, -1/+10This is awesome! Reminds me of the little camera pill that you eat and it scans your innards.
  • akchrs, on 06/05/2009, -0/+9Remind me movie Innerspace
  • rhdesigns, on 06/05/2009, -0/+9Remind me movie Fantastic Voyage
  • DamonToo, on 06/05/2009, -0/+9Anyone seen The Island? These things crawl in your eyes and come out somewhere less favorable.
  • stoanhart, on 06/05/2009, -1/+10It begins...
  • darkism, on 06/05/2009, -1/+9Another thing Kurzweil was right about...
  • ParkourRunner, on 06/05/2009, -1/+9think it would hurt?
    also, doesn't 1mm seem a little thick to anyone?
  • HEAVYisSPY, on 06/05/2009, -0/+8Dr. Kurzweil approves.
  • idavidtang, on 06/05/2009, -0/+7MORE BACON!!
  • keithwired, on 06/05/2009, -0/+7Now imagine a few years from now when these have been shrunk some more and we have thousands of them in our bodies, if each one carries a little bit of the most essential medicines, when you need x amount dosage, you just call x number of bots to release their payload and they can titrate the amount effectively and safely since there is no one bot that has enough of each to cause an overdose in the event of a failure of some kind.
  • Renork, on 06/05/2009, -1/+7It is still relatively early in the actual development of such technologies, sure they have been theorized for years but now we are actually building them. Yes, this model is a little large, however, the next machine generation will likely either be smaller or be a similar size with added features such as the camera and tongs mentioned in the article as well as things like wifi/RFID to enable swarm technology in subsequent models. Then 2-5 machine generations down the line we might be able to inject swarms of nanobots capable of a great multitude of functions ranging from fighting disease, repairing damage, improving health, as well as improving upon normal biological function. I remember reading not too long ago about it being possible to build a nanobot red bloodcell that would be so much more efficient than normal biological bloodcells it would allow for increased performance in aerobic activity as well as making it possible to hold your breath for 10s of minutes without trouble. We are on the verge of some amazing thing my friend!
  • Fogell, on 06/05/2009, -0/+6So it begins...
  • wiggles, on 06/05/2009, -0/+6depends on the concentration. If you consider that small doses of medicine (.2g of ibuprofen perhaps?) have to disperse throughout your entire body (68 kilograms for me) and still be strong enough to target the headache that's giving you issues, a few micrograms of a substance in one of these bots is really not far fetched.
  • omnibahumut, on 06/05/2009, -0/+6came here to digg this comment
  • PleaseJustDie, on 06/05/2009, -0/+5It seemed cool until...

    "ViRob is the first microbot that can tunnel between different body cavities. It’s controlled by an electromagnetic field outside of the robot that creates a vibration that propels ViRob forward.

    In lab tests, the robot has traveled up to nine millimeters per second and can commute through body fluids ranging from blood to bile, making it a versatile tool that can race through a vein and burrow into an organ."

    That just can't be good...
  • diggydougie, on 06/05/2009, -1/+6More details please. How long is the battery life? How does it navigate?
    Just from the look of it it looks like the top of one of those weeds that you can put in your hands and it moves in one direction as you move your hands back and forth. So does it just shuffle along down the vein without powered actuators? If it is just something that moves one way only down the vein it's not much of a robot. And how does it recognize a tumor (or whatever it is looking for)? What sensors does it have?
    I really do want to know these things. I hate articles that just say "here's this neat thing that..." without any details whatsoever.
  • badmonkey6186, on 06/05/2009, -1/+6Remind me tv show The Magic School Bus
  • SevenTwo, on 06/05/2009, -0/+5Dr. Naomi Hunter approves of this article.
  • Alexdoh, on 06/05/2009, -2/+6I can't really say I want that little bastard crawling through my veins, What if I caught it crawling up a vein in my arm, I'd ***** freak right out.
  • MargotCross, on 06/05/2009, -4/+8creepy..
  • harrisbradley, on 06/05/2009, -1/+5Developed by Stark Industries©
  • inactive, on 06/05/2009, -0/+4They should advance in measuring "The bot, which is one millimeter long and four millimeters from end to end"
  • jeremyosborne81, on 06/05/2009, -0/+3Exactly what I was thinking.
  • Ki77erB, on 06/05/2009, -0/+3Dugg for "innards"
  • ban1d0, on 06/05/2009, -1/+4Oh, that was a movie?
  • Ki77erB, on 06/05/2009, -1/+4Yes technology is amazing, but there is no way anyone is putting that thing in me.
  • robertisaar, on 06/05/2009, -0/+3And so it begins...
  • tahseenm, on 06/05/2009, -0/+3And so it begins again...
  • dromni, on 06/05/2009, -0/+3It is powered and moved by external magnetic fields. No battery at all.
  • yngtimmy, on 06/05/2009, -1/+3Ha I didnt even realize robert picardo was in innerspace
  • dbz253, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2singularity's knocking
  • Animan351, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2Om nom nom nom
  • defektiv, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2I for one welcome our new nanite overlord predecessors.
  • JDLamb88, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2In Soviet Russia...nano-bot drives you!
  • pixel_jockey, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2Quick someone get on the horn with Dennis Quaid
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