Magnetic robots make headway in medicine

Magnetic medical robots take advantage of magnetic field gradients to control the motility of devices and ultimately to access target tissue within the body with high precision. These magnetic robots can take the form of catheters and micro- or nanorobots and are steered by magnetic navigation systems. There have been several recent developments in magnetic robots, opening up new possibilities for diagnostic and therapeutic uses in the clinic. In this issue of Science Robotics, we present studies adopting a range of magnetic robots for various medical applications.

Treating conditions such as acute ischemic stroke requires minimally invasive methods for accessing blood vessels within the brain. However, navigating the tortuous vessel network is challenging. Dreyfus et al. developed a highly...

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