Page 26 - 2024-Vol20-Issue2

Received: 30 July 2023 | Revised: 9 October 2023 | Accepted: 12 October 2023

DOI: 10.37917/ijeee.20.2.2 Vol. 20 | Issue 2 | December 2024

Open Access

Iraqi Journal for Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Review Article

On the Actuation Technologies of Biomedical Microrobot:

A Summarized Review

Anwar Hamza Bresam*, Haider Al-Mumen
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Babylon, Babylon, Iraq

Correspondance
*Anwar Hamza Bresam
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering,
University of Babylon, Babylon, Iraq
Email: anwar.bresam.engh439@student.uobabylon.edu.iq

Abstract
In recent years, wireless microrobots have gotten more attention due to their huge potential in the biomedical field,
especially drug delivery. Microrobots have several benefits, including small size, low weight, sensitivity, and flexibility.
These characteristics have led to microscale improvements in control systems and power delivery with the development
of submillimeter-sized robots. Wireless control of individual mobile microrobots has been achieved using a variety of
propulsion systems, and improving the actuation and navigation of microrobots will have a significant impact. On the
other hand, actuation tools must be integrated and compatible with the human body to drive these untethered microrobots
along predefined paths inside biological environments. This study investigated key microrobot components, including
medical applications, actuation systems, control systems, and design schemes. The efficiency of a microrobot is impacted
by many factors, including the material, structure, and environment of the microrobot. Furthermore, integrating a
hybrid actuation system and multimodal imaging can increase the microrobot’s navigation effect, imaging algorithms,
and working environment. In addition, taking into account the human body’s moving distance, autonomous actuating
technology could be used to deliver microrobots precisely and quickly to a specific position using a combination of quick
approaches.

Keywords
AMicrorobot, Medical Applications, Actuation Methods, Motion Control, Design Scheme.

I. INTRODUCTION efficacy and also improving drug safety, efficiency, and pa-
tient compliance [6]. Modern medication delivery focuses on
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of attention in the systems that achieve a balance between treatment tolerance
field of micro- and nanorobots for applications involving effi- and efficiency [7]. Depending on the location of the tumor
cient medication administration [1]. Microrobots, which are and the best management method, precision robots face a va-
less than a millimeter in size, hold great promise for biomed- riety of long-term challenges [8]. Targeted delivery of drugs
ical applications such as minimally invasive surgery, micro- could be employed to enhance drug levels in specific cells or
assembly, conventional micromanipulation [2], drug delivery, tissues while lowering the risk of negative effects elsewhere
and biosensing [3]. These microrobots, which operate in- in the body [9]. Microrobots are considered to be superior
dependently, are commonly used for this purpose and are drug delivery technologies. They are capable of encapsulat-
rapidly developing [4]. Moreover, microrobots have been ing, transporting, and delivering therapeutic contents directly
used in another technique for cleaning contaminants inside to diseased locations, improving therapeutic efficiency while
microchannels has been applied to use them as an alternative reducing toxic side effects [10] and reducing pain, recovery
due to the small size of the microrobots [5]. time, and cost [7]. Moreover, microrobots are perfect for

Drug delivery is critical for achieving optimal treatment

This is an open-access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
©2024 The Authors.
Published by Iraqi Journal for Electrical and Electronic Engineering | College of Engineering, University of Basrah.

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