Picking up single cells with robotic hand

Nanotech, at least intended in sense of extreme miniaturisation, is making progress as scientists understand better and better the structure of matter and learn how to turn this to their advantage by creating "smart" materials that can react to external stimuli.
This is the case of researchers at the Johns Hopkins University that have invented micro grippers that can pick up single cells and even deliver micro doses of drugs to very specific points, e.g. for killing cancer cells.
One of the problems with robotics is that you need power and this is provided by tethering the robot with cords supplying it. An alternative, particularly when working at microlevel is to use materials that can harvest energy and use it. A class of materials that can just do this is hydrogels. They can swell (and hence crete a force) in certain condition, like changes in temperature, acidity, light. The downside is that they are soft and the forces they can create is not effective in most situations.
The researchers at the Johns Hopkins have managed to couple hydrogels with a stiff biodegradable polymer material that can funnel the force generated by the hydrogel and make it effective.
To steer the grippers to the place they are needed the researchers have embedded magnetic nanoparticles so that they can be moved by a magnetic field. These magnetic particles are also important in providing information on where the grippers are at any particular moment.
So just imagine injecting some hundreds of theses grippers into a vein and guiding them to a very specific place where there is a tumour. Once you have the grippers in place you can activate them by using lasers or ultrasound to heat them up, thus providing the energy needed. They would be delivering the drug molecules right where it is needed.
The amazing thing is that this could be the bases for a science fiction book, and instead it is material for a science book!

About Roberto Saracco

Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications long time ago. His background is in math and computer science. Until April 2017 he led the EIT Digital Italian Node and then was head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital up to September 2018. Previously, up to December 2011 he was the Director of the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, looking at the interplay of technology evolution, economics and society. At the turn of the century he led a World Bank-Infodev project to stimulate entrepreneurship in Latin America. He is a senior member of IEEE where he leads the New Initiative Committee and co-chairs the Digital Reality Initiative. He is a member of the IEEE in 2050 Ad Hoc Committee. He teaches a Master course on Technology Forecasting and Market impact at the University of Trento. He has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines and 14 books.