Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Medical microbots need better imaging and control

Mariana Medina-Sánchez and Oliver G. Schmidt set priorities for more realistic tests of tiny machines that could be used to diagnose and treat conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Guix, M., Mayorga-Martinez, C. C. & Merkoçi, A. Chem. Rev. 114, 6285–6322 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ma, X., Hortelão, A. C., Patiño, T. & Sánchez, S. ACS Nano 10, 9111–9122 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Gao, W. et al. ACS Nano 9, 117–123 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Qiu, F. & Nelson, B. J. Engineering 1, 021–026 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Rao, K. J. et al. Small 11, 2836–2846 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Martel, S., Mohammadi, M., Felfoul, O., Lu, Z. & Pouponneau, P. Int. J. Rob. Res. 28, 571–582 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Xu, H. et al. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.08510 (2017).

  8. Medina-Sánchez, M., Schwarz, L., Meyer, A. K., Hebenstreit, F. & Schmidt, O. G. Nano Lett. 16, 555–561 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Magdanz, V., Sanchez, S. & Schmidt, O. G. Adv. Mater. 25, 6581–6588 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Deán-Ben, X. L., Gottschalk, S., Mc Larney, B., Shoham, S. & Razansky, D. Chem. Soc. Rev. 46, 2158–2198 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Melde, K., Mark, A. G., Qiu, T. & Fischer, P. Nature 537, 518–522 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mariana Medina-Sánchez or Oliver G. Schmidt.

Additional information

Tweet Follow @NatureNews

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Show drugs work before selling them 2017-Mar-08

Print flexible solar cells 2016-Nov-23

World’s tiniest machines win chemistry Nobel 2016-Oct-05

Beyond Terminator: squishy 'octobot' heralds new era of soft robotics 2016-Aug-24

Optics: Super vision 2015-Feb-11

Nature Special: Light

Related external links

Science video: Motorized 'spermbot' helps sperm reach egg

Phys.org: Microbots can clean up polluted water

ScienceDaily: New remote-controlled microrobots for medical operations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Medina-Sánchez, M., Schmidt, O. Medical microbots need better imaging and control. Nature 545, 406–408 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/545406a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/545406a

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing