Sydney: A team of biomedical engineers in Australia have developed a little flexible robot which can be used for 3D printed biomaterials directly inside the human body, in hopes of expediting future medical procedures.
3D bioprinting is a process in which structures similar to natural tissues are printed using living cells and other natural tissues known as “bio ink“, in order to repair damage to organs or tissues or broken blood vessels.
The use of living cells in the printing process allows these man-made structures to naturally fuse with the human body and continue to grow.
At the moment, biomaterials it must be created outside the body before relying on typically invasive surgery to insert the materials inside the body, which can lead to extensive blood loss, infection, and other complications.
Team leader thanh nho Do said this new device, called the F3DB, will eliminate those complications and risks by printing directly inside the body.
“Currently, no commercially available technology can do direct 3D printing inside the human body,” Do told a news agency.
F3DB features a three-axis print head that can be bent and twisted using hydraulics at the tip of a soft robotic arm. The print nozzle can print pre-programmed shapes or can be manually operated if more complex or indeterminate printing is required.
The smallest prototype has a diameter of about 11-13 millimeters (mm), similar to a commercial endoscope, but could be scaled up further in the future.
“Soft robots (are) very good at working with the human body,” Do, the director of the University of New South Wales Medical Robotics Laboratorysaying.
“They can offer great flexibility and adaptability. This means that they can adapt to any area within the human body.”
Do believes the device is on track to be commercialized in the next five to seven years, pending further clinical trials.
