Surgical Navigation and Robotics Laboratory

A part of Image-Guided Therapy Program
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

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Featured Image: MRI Driven Magnetic Microswimmers

Illustration of the motion of an elastic tail with one coil at its head (left) and two coils (right).
Capsule endoscopy is a promising technique for diagnosing diseases in the digestive system. We designed a miniature swimming mechanism that uses both the static and radiofrequency magnetic fields inherently available in MRI for propulsion and wireless powering of a capsule endoscope. We found that an approximately 20 mm long, 5 mm wide swimming tail is capable of producing 0.21 mN propulsive force in water when it is located within the homogeneous field of a 3 T MRI scanner and is driven by a 20 Hz signal providing 0.85 mW power. While the magnetic microswimmer propels the capsule endoscope, the operator can locate the capsule on an image without it being obscured by any significant artifacts. Our experiments show that this novel system can propel a large capsule in the body: the high magnetic field of the MRI allows speed on the order of several millimeters per second.

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The Surgical Navigation and Robotics Laboratory focuses on development of novel computer and engineering methods for image-guided therapy.

Our unique approach, where imaging, computing and robotics are integrated into one unit to enhance the capability of image-guided therapy, aims to advance a minimally invasive therapy and ultimately develop new treatment methods.

Being part of a clinical research program in a Harvard affiliated hospital, we stress actual clinical applications of the developed methods. We do science, engineering, and application. The laboratory is under the direction of Dr. Nobuhiko Hata.