Dowd-ICES Fellowship
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Bahareh Behkam
Mechanical Engineering Project Title: Novel Biomimetic and Hybrid Propulsion Systems for Miniature Medical Swimming Robots Bahareh Behkam's Research Presentation (PDF File) |
The goal of this project is to develop a microrobot which can travel to currently inaccessible parts of
the human body and perform user directed tasks such as highly localized drug delivery and screening for
diseases that are in their very early stages. Miniature, safe and energy efficient propulsion systems
hold the key to maturing this technology but they pose significant challenges. We propose a new type
of propulsion inspired by the motility mechanism of bacteria with peritrichous flagellation. This
research work would investigate two different concepts:
Biomimetic swimming microrobot: The design and microfabrication of a completely mechanical propulsion
system inspired by motility of the bacteria.
Hybrid swimming microrobot: Utilizing a large number of mutated bacteria for propulsion of the abiotic
body of the robot.
These robots are intended to swim in stagnation/low velocity biofluid. Potential target regions to use
these robots include eyeball cavity, cerebrospinal fluid and the urinary system.