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Agence France-Presse

Sending miniature robots deep inside the human skull to treat brain disorders has long been the stuff of science fiction – but it could soon become reality, according to a California start-up.
Bionaut Labs plans its first clinical trials on humans in just two years for its tiny injectable robots, which can be carefully guided through the brain using magnets.
“The idea of the micro robot came about way before I was born,” said co-founder and CEO Michael Shpigelmacher.
“One of the most famous examples is a book by Isaac Asimov and a film called Fantastic Voyage, where a crew of scientists goes inside a miniaturised spaceship into the brain, to treat a blood clot.”


Just as mobile phones now contain extremely powerful components that are smaller than a grain of rice, the tech behind micro-robots “that used to be science fiction in the 1950s and 60s” is now “science fact”, Shpigelmacher said.
“We want to take that old idea and turn it into reality,” the 53-year-old scientist said during a tour of his company’s Los Angeles research and development centre.
Working with Germany’s prestigious Max Planck research institutes, Bionaut Labs settled on using magnetic energy to propel the robots – rather than optical or ultrasonic techniques – because it does not harm the human body.
Magnetic coils placed outside the patient’s skull are linked up to a computer that can remotely and delicately manoeuvre the micro-robot into the affected part of the brain, before removing it via the same route.
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The entire apparatus is easily transportable, unlike an MRI, and uses 10 to 100 times less electricity.
In a simulation watched by Agence France-Presse, the robot – a metal cylinder just a few millimetres long, in the shape of a tiny bullet – slowly follows a preprogrammed trajectory through a gel-filled container, which emulates the density of the human brain.
Once it nears a pouch filled with blue liquid, the robot is swiftly propelled like a rocket and pierces the sack with its pointed end, allowing liquid to flow out.
Inventors hope to use the robot to pierce fluid-filled cysts within the brain when clinical trials begin in two years. If successful, the process could be used to treat Dandy-Walker Syndrome, a rare brain malformation affecting children.

Sufferers of the congenital ailment can experience cysts the size of a golf ball, which swell and increase pressure on the brain, triggering a host of dangerous neurological conditions.
Bionaut Labs has already tested its robots on large animals such as sheep and pigs, and “the data shows that the technology is safe for us” human beings, Shpigelmacher said.
If approved, the robots could offer key advantages over existing treatments for brain disorders.
“Today, most brain surgery and brain intervention is limited to straight lines – if you don’t have a straight line to the target, you’re stuck, you’re not going to get there,” said Shpigelmacher.
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Micro-robotic tech “allows you to reach targets you were not able to reach, and reaching them repeatedly in the safest trajectory possible”, he added.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year granted Bionaut Labs approvals that pave the way for clinical trials to treat Dandy-Walker Syndrome, as well as malignant gliomas – cancerous brain tumours often considered to be inoperable.
In the latter case, the micro-robots will be used to inject anticancer drugs directly into brain tumours in a “surgical strike”.
Existing treatment methods involve bombarding the whole body with drugs, leading to potential severe side effects and loss of effectiveness, said Shpigelmacher.

The micro-robots can also take measurements and collect tissue samples while inside the brain.
Bionaut Labs – which has around 30 employees – has held discussions with partners for the use of its tech to treat other conditions affecting the brain including Parkinson’s, epilepsy or strokes.
“To the best of my knowledge, we are the first commercial effort” to design a product of this type with “a clear path to the clinic trials,” Shpigelmacher said.
“But I don’t think that we will be the only one … This area is heating up.”


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US start-up sends tiny robots on voyage into human brains

Bionaut Labs CEO and founder Michael Shpigelmacher displays the tiny remote-controlled medical micro-robot his company is developing in Los Angeles in March. Photo: AFP

A simulation at Bionaut Labs in Los Angeles in March shows how a remote-controlled micro medical robot (with red body) could be used to puncture a cyst (represented by a ball filled with blue liquid) in the brain of child with a rare childhood disease. Photo: AFP

A closer look at the tiny remote-controlled medical micro robot at Bionaut Labs in Los Angeles in March. Photo: AFP

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Chinese astronauts could soon be using mind power to operate a giant arm at their space station. Pictured is an artist’s interpretation of neuron pulses within a human brain. Photo: Shutterstock

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World

United States & Canada


The injectable micro machines from Bionaut Labs can be carefully guided inside the skull through the use of magnets
Inventors hope to use the robots to target tumours in ‘surgical strikes’, or pierce fluid-filled cysts within the brain



Inventors hope to use the injectable micro machines to target tumours in ‘surgical strikes’, or pierce fluid-filled cysts within the brain.


US start-up sends tiny robots on voyage into human brains

The injectable micro machines from Bionaut Labs can be carefully guided inside the skull through the use of magnets Inventors hope to use the robots to target tumours in ‘surgical strikes’, or pierce fluid-filled cysts within the brain

The injectable micro machines from Bionaut Labs can be carefully guided inside the skull through the use of magnets

Inventors hope to use the robots to target tumours in ‘surgical strikes’, or pierce fluid-filled cysts within the brain