Jellyfish-inspired robot to deliver drugs inside body

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) have developed a robot that looks and moves like a jellyfish, one of the world’s most common marine animals. The team named their invention “Jellyfishbot”. The untethered robot features an umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles, just like its natural model. The untethered robot features an umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles, just like its natural model. Ziyu Ren, a Ph.D. student in the Physical Intelligence Department at the MPI-IS, and Dr. Wenqi Hu, a research scientist working in the same department, are both lead authors of the publication. Xiaoguang Dong, a Ph.D. student in the same department, also participated in the research, as did Dr. Metin Sitti, Director at the MPI-IS and head of the Physical Intelligence Department. He proposed and led this research as the last author. Additionally, with the knowledge learned from this bio-inspired robot platform, the team created a new Jellyfishbot design for medical applications in a follow-up study. “The idea behind this project was twofold,” Sitti explains and refers to the typical research methodologies applied in his Physical Intelligence Department. “We learn and take inspiration from a range of biological systems to create tiny bio-inspired robots. We use them to study and better understand biological systems. But more importantly, such newly created robots could perhaps one day solve the critical scientific and technological challenges we face in healthcare and environment, helping to improve the welfare of our society.”

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