Tiny ‘hairy’ robot could help treat blood clots and detect cancer

Published on

26/08/2026 - 12:38 GMT+2

Scientists have developed a tiny soft robot covered in hair-like structures that can manipulate the flow of blood, potentially helping drugs reach vessel walls, speeding up the breakdown of blood clots and capturing rare cancer cells.

Researchers from the Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Chinese PLA General Hospital in China developed a device called CiliaVine, which could eventually help deliver drugs more precisely, treat blood clots and potentially help monitor cancer by capturing tumour cells circulating in the bloodstream.

It is attached to a medical guidewire and uses magnetic fields to make tiny flexible hair-like structures, known as cilia, move in different patterns.