Micro-motor could unblock arteries

摘要

SCIENTISTS FROM Monash University in Australia are using piezoelectricity to build a micro-motor that could be used to drive tiny robots inside the human body. These 'microbots' could unblock arteries and perform surgery in the bloodstream of a patient. Professor James Friend said the team started work on the micro-motor more than two years ago, picking piezoelectricity as the most suitable way of generating torque because it can be scaled down more easily than mechanical systems. Friend dubbed the motor Proteus after the miniaturised submarine used in Isaac Asimov's Fantastic Voyage.