Bio-Hybrid Magnetic Robots: From Bioengineering to Targeted Therapy

Magnetic robots possess an innate ability to navigate through hard-to-reach cavities in the human body, making them promising tools for diagnosing and treating diseases minimally invasively. Despite significant advances, the development of robots with desirable locomotion and full biocompatibility under harsh physiological conditions remains challenging, which put forward new requirements for magnetic robots' design and material synthesis. Compared to robots that are synthesized with inorganic materials, natural organisms like cells, bacteria or other microalgae exhibit ideal properties for in vivo applications, such as biocompatibility, deformability, auto-fluorescence, and self-propulsion, as well as easy for functional therapeutics engineering. In the process, these organisms can provide autonomous propulsion in biological fluids or external magnetic fields, while retaining their functionalities with integrating artificial robots, thus aiding targeted therapeutic delivery. This kind of robotics is named bio-hybrid magnetic robotics, and in this mini-review, recent progress including their design, engineering and potential for therapeutics delivery will be discussed. Additionally, the historical context and prominent examples will be introduced, and the complexities, potential pitfalls, and opportunities associated with bio-hybrid magnetic robotics will be discussed.