Microscopic robots that help fight diseases such as cancer are on the horizon. In the past decade, scientists have proven they can control magnetic forces to operate medical devices inside the human body. Research has shown that scientists can control large groups of tiny magnets called "swarms". The most difficult obstacle in making these robots to fight disease is having them operate individually. However, scientists have recently figured this out in a study led by Jürgen Rahmer, a physicist at Philips Innovative Technologies in Hamburg, Germany.
How does it work?
Scientists created tiny identical magnetic screws. Then they proceeded to freeze the magnetic screws in small groups, while in different patches of weak spots the screws are able to move. This allows the operator to make these individual screws spin or move on their own, not as one. Through many experiments, scientists have learned to control several magnetic screws at once and making them spin differently. In theory, with this technology, scientists could manipulate hundreds of robots in the human body at once. One use of this technology could use magnetic screws implanted in injectable microscopic pills. Doctors could operate the magnetic screws to open the pill inside the human body. This is just the beginning of robots helping to fight disease and there is still a long way to go before they become commonly used.
Application to class.
This applies to what we are talking about in class because these magnetic screws would not just work on their own. They would need to be told what to do by being programmed to operate correctly. The screws which would eventually be fully working robots in the human body would need an algorithm. If they did not have an algorithm they would not do what the operator told it to, it would roam freely within the human body.
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