MOFBOTS: Metal–Organic‐Framework‐Based Biomedical Microrobots

Abstract

Motile metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) are potential candidates to serve as small‐scale robotic platforms for applications in environmental remediation, targeted drug delivery, or nanosurgery. Here, magnetic helical microstructures coated with a kind of zinc‐based MOF, zeolitic imidazole framework‐8 (ZIF‐8), with biocompatibility characteristics and pH‐responsive features, are successfully fabricated. Moreover, it is shown that this highly integrated multifunctional device can swim along predesigned tracks under the control of weak rotational magnetic fields. The proposed systems can achieve single‐cell targeting in a cell culture media and a controlled delivery of cargo payloads inside a complex microfluidic channel network. This new approach toward the fabrication of integrated multifunctional systems will open new avenues in soft microrobotics beyond current applications.

The optoelectronic microrobot: A versatile toolbox for micromanipulation

“…(2-6) Microscale (and nanoscale) robotic systems can be subclassified into at least 2 dimensions: force and operator-control/ autonomy. For the former, microrobots can be described in terms of the forces that are used to manipulate them--for example, photonic (4)(5)(6), magnetic (7)(8)(9), and acoustic (10)(11)(12) forces. For the latter, microrobots can be described as "passive" or "active" in terms of human control over their operations--for example, the operator has limited control over the behavior of passive (or "swimmer"-type) microrobots (3, 10) (but they are highly autonomous), while the operator has great control over active microrobots (2, 4-9, 11, 12) (but they have less autonomy).…”

Environmental and health risks of nanorobots: an early review

“…Also excluded are metal-organic-framework-based biomedical microrobots, called MOFBOTS, which are at least a few micrometers in diameter. 20 Naturally, the delimitation to the nanoscale also excludes larger micro-sized robots, such as the 400 × 800 μm tumbling micromotor. 21 The exclusion of such micro-sized devises in this review is done to enable a focus on nano-sized devises, which might potentially exhibit unique hazardous properties due to their small size.…”

Magnetically Driven Bionic Millirobots with a Low-Delay Automated Actuation System for Bioparticles Manipulation

“…The magnetic field generated by Helmholtz coils and helical magnetic microrobots have been widely used for many studies and biological applications [13]. Various feasible methods have been used to fabricate micro/nano-scale helical robots, such as 3D direct laser writing [14], biotemplated synthesis [15], self-scrolling [16] and 4D printing technology [17].…”