Microrobots for Biomedicine: Unsolved Challenges and Opportunities for Translation

Microrobots are being explored for biomedical applications,suchas drug delivery, biological cargo transport, and minimally invasivesurgery. However, current efforts largely focus on proof-of-conceptstudies with nontranslatable materials through a "design-and-apply" approach, limiting the potential for clinical adaptation.While these proof-of-concept studies have been key to advancing microrobottechnologies, we believe that the distinguishing capabilities of microrobotswill be most readily brought to patient bedsides through a "design-by-problem" approach, which involves focusingon unsolved problems to inform the design of microrobots with practicalcapabilities. As outlined below, we propose that the clinical translationof microrobots will be accelerated by a judicious choice of targetapplications, improved delivery considerations, and the rational selectionof translation-ready biomaterials, ultimately reducing patient burdenand enhancing the efficacy of therapeutic drugs for difficult-to-treatdiseases.