“Robots Made from Human Cells Can Move on Their Own and Heal Wounds. Researchers have created ‘anthrobots’ out of human lung cells that are capable of moving independently and even healing damaged tissue,” reports Scientific American. This involves “shaping clusters of cells into tiny artificial forms” called “anthrobots” that can “‘walk’ around on surfaces.” “The key to making anthrobots mobile is that, like xenobots, their surface is covered with hairlike protein appendages called cilia that wave around and propel the structures through a fluid. To actually get anywhere, the cilia all have to beat together in a coordinated fashion.”
Similarly, Nature reports that “Scientists have developed tiny robots made of human cells that are able to repair damaged neural tissue. The ‘anthrobots’ were made using human tracheal cells and might, in future, be used in personalized medicine.”
Nanorobots are also being used to fight cancer. “In a major advancement in nanomedicine, Arizona State University scientists…have successfully programmed nanorobots to shrink tumors by cutting off their blood supply,” reported Next Big Future.
The bricks to build their structures come from DNA, which can self-fold into all sorts of shapes and sizes — all at a scale 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair….“These nanorobots can be programmed to transport molecular payloads and cause on-site tumor blood-supply blockages, which can lead to tissue death and shrink the tumor,” said Baoquan Ding, a professor at the NCNST in Beijing….Each nanorobot is made from a flat, rectangular DNA origami sheet, 90 nanometers by 60 nanometers in size. A key blood-clotting enzyme, called thrombin, is attached to the surface.
Doctors recently used a surgical robot to carry out incredibly complicated spinal surgery. Doctors also recently did the first robotic liver transplant in America.
Korean restaurants are increasingly using robot waiters. The world’s first humanoid robot factory is opening.
A virus is being used to cure deafness in new gene therapy. A plant virus may save crops from root-eating pests.
Scientists recently engineered bionic silkworms that spin fibers six times stronger than Kevlar.
