Submitted by AskScienceModerator t3_10px8sa in askscience
intengineering t1_j6oblcy wrote
Reply to comment by BadassGhost in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Birgül Akolpoglu, a doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany. I work on microalgae and bacteria-based microrobots that could one day be used to deliver drugs and battle cancer! AMA! by AskScienceModerator
Thanks for the question! In contrast to their synthetic counterparts, biological nano- or microrobots can sense and respond to changes in their local environment, providing a higher level of autonomy. Also, most microorganisms can achieve high propulsion speeds (tens of their body lengths per second) and interact with their targets at the same size scale (1–10 μm). Such advantages make biohybrid cellular microrobots attractive candidates for medical applications, including targeted drug delivery. These are the main advantages, however, this is not to say biohybrid microrobots are always superior to synthetic ones since the selection of the micro and nanobots is highly application dependent.
All the best,
/birgül
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